Dandenong opener Kumar Sarna was caught off this mistimed pull shot against St Kilda on Saturday.By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG playing coach Warren Ayres has lamented some rash batting that last weekend cost the Panthers a place in the Premier Cricket competition’s top eight.
Despite fielding its strongest side for the season to date, Dandenong posted a mediocre total of 173 and watched St Kilda overhaul the score in the final over of the one-dayer at Shepley Oval.
Ayres, who won the toss and chose to bat, said it was a succession of dubious shots from top-order batsmen that saw the Panthers fall 30 runs short of a competitive total.
“(The pitch) was a bit slow, but it was the batsmen’s incorrect shot selection that cost us,” he said.
“It wasn’t the wicket’s fault.”
It was Ayres (57) who shouldered the burden of a sluggish start that saw the Panthers slump to 4/57.
At 0/27, precocious opening pair Kumar Sarna and Brett Forsyth looked to have staved off the Saints’ new ball assault, but Sarna (12) mistimed a pull to wide mid-on attempting to up the run rate.
Some stump-to-stump bowling from the Saints denied left-handers Tom Donnell and Dave Newman a start, and when Forsyth (26) drove a Nick Jewell delivery down mid-off’s throat the Panthers were in need of a steadying influence.
Having survived some strategic chin music from the Saints’ pace attack, the skipper set about steering Dandenong towards a defendable total.
But when Ayres was trapped in front by St Kilda off-spinner Michael Beer in the 49th over, the Panthers had been dismissed 161 runs short of their total against Carlton the previous weekend.
Still, with the pace trio of Peter Siddle, Darren Pattinson and James Pattinson returning from injury to complement in-form seamer Dave Newman and tweaker Nathan Allen, Dandenong must have given itself some chance of skittling the Saints.
And at 4/51 the Panthers were looking good, but St Kilda all-rounder Glenn Lalor took control of the match with an unbeaten 67 – complementing bowling figures of 3/24 – to usher the Saints to a three-wicket win.
The loss was a step backwards for the Panthers after knocking off the in-form Blues the previous week, but Ayres found solace in solid performances of his returning strike bowlers.
“They were fantastic,” he said.
“It wasn’t a problem with our bowlers on Saturday, we just didn’t make enough runs.”
While Dandenong is 11th on the ladder, it is only two points outside the eight.
Having squandered an opportunity to penetrate the top bracket of teams, the Panthers will surely display a renewed focus as they host Melbourne Uni at Shepley Oval this Saturday.
