By Marcus Uhe
A rescue mission from Dhanusha Gamage and Joshua Slater helped Dandenong sneak home against Essendon on Saturday in the first of its two Victorian Premier Cricket T20 clashes at the Junction Oval.
Chasing 152 for victory, the Panthers slipped to 3/17 when Max Marinic was dismissed for a golden duck, joining Matthew Wilson and Brett Forsyth back in the sheds in the fourth over.
Gamage and Slater then added 98 runs in the next 12 overs to bring the Panthers back into the contest and give Dandenong a chance at snatching an unlikely result.
Gamage was caught by James Seymour in the 16th over, with Dandenong still requiring 37 runs from the final four overs.
Slater and Gehan Seneviratne then added 30 runs in the next three overs, running hard between the wickets and hitting the occasional boundary to assist their cause.
They began the final over with seven runs required, but lost Seneviratne on the first ball to throw a spanner into the works.
Responsibility fell to Ben Allison, who was more than up to the task, hitting two twos and a boundary to reach the total with two balls remaining and with five wickets in hand.
Slater finished unbeaten on 53.
Forsyth had won the toss and elected to bowl first, where Essendon posted 5/151.
Opening bowlers Allison and Noah Hurley were both expensive, but spinners Vishwa Ramkumar and Seneviratne reigned in their opponents effectively to reduce the run rate.
Seneviratne finished with 3/20 to go with his heroics with the bat, and broke a 44-run stand for the second wicket with a run out.
Gamage and Slater were unable to match their feats in the second contest of the afternoon, however, the Panthers falling 40 runs shy of St Kilda’s 177.
St Kilda’s batting line-up, featuring batters with Test caps for Australia to their name in Nic Maddinson and Marcus Harris, had too many options for Dandenong to contain.
While Harris and Maddinson could only register starts, it was Ed Newman, a former Panther and now vice-captain at St Kilda, who inflicted the most damage, smashing 74 off 37 deliveries, with six sixes and three fours.
Newman was the aggressor in a 90-run partnership with Maddinson that lifted St Kilda from early trouble, having sunk to 3/46 after Harris’ dismissal in the eighth over to Noah Hurley.
Hurley was the pick of the Dandenong bowlers as the only multiple wicket taker for 3/26.
A promising opening stand between Forsyth and Wilson came to an end on 38 after four overs when Forsyth was bowled, only for Gamage to depart two deliveries later for a first ball duck.
Wilson was the mainstay for much of the innings, hitting 50 off 32 deliveries, but the constant falling of wickets around him left him too much to do on his own, as numbers three to seven on the Panthers’ batting card all scored in single figures.
Dandenong reached 9/137 at the conclusion of its 20 overs, recording its fourth loss of the year.
The Panthers return home this week to face Melbourne at Shepley Oval, just two places behind them on the table in 11th.
