Dandenong captain-coach Warren Ayres slashes a delivery to the fence during his half century against Melbourne in the first round of Premier Cricket on the weekend.By Paul Pickering
AN agonising final over defeat spoilt the Premier Cricket season opening festivities at Dandenong’s Shepley Oval on Saturday, as Melbourne rained on the Panthers’ parade.
Proceedings could not have started any better for the reigning premiers, with Panthers legend Graeme Way unfurling of the 2006-07 pennant before captain-coach Warren Ayres won the toss and compiled a 75-run opening partnership with Brett Forsyth.
Ayres, beginning his 25th season of Premier Cricket, set a solid foundation for his charges, scoring 56 before being caught at cover off the bowling of Demons paceman Mike Smith.
Forsyth took full advantage of his opportunity to face the ball in the absence of young gun Kumar Sarna, reaching his maiden first-grade 50 before being snared by Smith for 54.
While the middle order could not take full advantage of a promising start, handy contributions from Tom Donnell (20) and Matt Chasemore (34) saw the Panthers graft out a competitive total of 8/232 from their 50 overs.
“I thought 232 was a pretty good score,” Ayres said.
“Another 20 runs would’ve been good, but in the first game it’s never easy to go in and be aggressive straight away.
“We knew it was always going to go down to the wire.”
Melbourne’s chase started with a flurry as Andrew Kent (55) took a liking to the Panthers’ seam attack, victimising Paul Boraston, Dave Newman and Chasemore on his way to a quick-fire half-century.
Only paceman Peter Siddle (1/27) could stop the bleeding, claiming the wicket of opener Grant Baldwin in an economical opening spell.
At 2/129, Kent and Peter Nevill (53) looked to have closed the door on the Panthers with a 75-run third-wicket partnership, but Boraston squeezed one through Kent’s defence to spark a mini-collapse.
It was part-time trundler James Nanopoulos who claimed the vital wicket of Nevill on his way to figures of 3/25.
Ultimately, though, the Panthers fell one wicket short as the Melbourne tail-enders successfully navigated the final overs to better Dandenong’s total with four balls to spare.
Ayres, though, was far from disappointed with his troops.
“I thought our bowlers did a great job to stay in the contest because a lot of times we looked out of it and we kept fighting our way back in,” he said.
Ayres did, however, admit to being frustrated by a directive from the Victorian Bushrangers hierarchy that restricted Peter Siddle to bowling a just eight overs for the match.
Ayres said the unusual demand – designed to keep Siddle fresh for this weekend’s Pura Cup opener against South Australia – probably cost the Panthers the six points.
“That was difference in the end,” he said.
With Siddle on state duties this weekend, Ayres’ seam attack will again be tested in Saturday’s one-day fixture at Prahran.
