By Nick Creely
VIC PREMIER CRICKET Review – Round 16 (Day 2)
It’s twelve centuries and counting now for champion Dandenong batsman Brett Forsyth (111), after the star opener belted a hapless Frankston bowling unit all around Shepley Oval on Saturday.
After the Heat amassed 230 against a depleted and inexperienced Panthers bowling unit last week, there were no taking things for granted on an overcast morning perfect for seam bowling.
In the tricky chase of 231, the Panthers lost skipper Tom Donnell (3) early in the piece courtesy of some great pace-bowling from Ben Ashkenazi.
And after swiftly moving his way to 18, the impressive Ryan Quirk, who has had to bide him time in the seconds, fell LBW to Jackson Mockett, leaving the Panthers shaky at 2/36.
But Lincoln Edwards (85) linked up with Forsyth, with the pair adding 120-runs with relative ease, dragging the score up to 3/156 before Edwards lost his stumps to Mockett.
Edwards, who moved across from Melbourne at the start of the season, has been in stellar touch for the Panthers with three consecutive half-centuries. James Pattinson (52 not out) – returning from state duties – then joined Forsyth at the crease, and quickly killed off any life in the contest, playing some cracking shots, hitting seven boundaries.
Forsyth brought up his wonderful century with a classy boundary off Tom Ewing, before unfortunately falling right on the stroke of stumps.
The dynamic opening batsman has enjoyed another consistent campaign at the top-of-the-order for the Panthers with his skipper Tom Donnell.
The Panthers finished off on 4/279 off 77 overs in a commanding display, and are likely to regain the services of their champion quick Justin Butterfield next week.
Edwards said that it was a terrific performance from both the batters and bowlers, but knows that there is still a game to go before finals, despite the excitement amongst the group.
“Week one I guess we had a few out, and we had a young bowling attack – but we were switched on from the start and backed them in, but Frankston did bat pretty well,” he said.
“The batting was great – all it took was one or two partnerships and we knew that, and for me personally it’s calming batting with experienced guys like Brett (Forsyth), Tommy (Donnell) and Nano (James Nanopoulos) – batting with Brett was awesome on the weekend and he deserved the century.
“All the games are important and we need to go hard but the boys do think about finals now – and we basically knew we would be in finals mid-year, and we now have a lot of belief that we can go really deep into finals – we’re all pretty excited with how we’re going and where we can get to.”
The win leaves the Panthers virtually securing a top-four spot and likely to host a final in the coming weeks – they face St Kilda at Harry Trott Oval in the final round.
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