Tom Donnell scored his maiden first XI century for the Dandenong Panthers on the weekend. Donnell’s match-winning knock of 106 propelled the Panthers into a group grand final.By Glen Atwell
A MAIDEN first XI century to Tom Donnell guided the Dandenong Panthers to their first Premier Cricket finals victory on the weekend.
The three-run victory against Hawthorn-Monash at Shepley Oval catapulted Dandenong into a group final against Carlton this weekend.
Carlton thrashed Fitzroy-Doncaster in a 104-run outright victory, and the winner of this weekend’s game will progress to the grand final.
Dandenong coach Warren Ayres won yet another coin toss on Saturday and elected to bowl.
Despite losing opener Gaurav Kapoor for 1, Hawthorn-Monash batted patiently and persevered to post a competitive total of 7/251 declared at the end of the first day.
Ben Stallworthy (56), Rhys Adams (52) and Steven Spoljaric (55) all made valuable half-centuries, but no Hawthorn-Monash batsman could go on with the job and pose a serious threat to the Dandenong attack.
The Dandenong bowling attack was at its miserly best.
Darren Pattinson collected the prized early wicket of Kapoor and finished the day with 1/59 from 19 overs.
Peter Siddle snared 3/43 from 24 overs, and James Nanopoulos captured 2/31 from 15.
On Sunday morning, the Panthers’ run-chase began in the worst way possible, with opener Nanopoulos returning to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.
But just as memories of another first-round finals loss stirred through the Dandenong camp, Donnell stepped to the crease and smashed ball after ball to the boundary.
Donnell and Kumar Sarna combined well to rebuild the innings before former Panther player Aaron Dragwidge caught Sarna on 28.
The ever-reliable Ayres then strode to the crease and the scoreboard started to tick over effortlessly.
Donnell blasted 21 fours on his way to a match-winning innings of 106 and Ayres (65) was at his dominant best as the dynamic duo recorded a 132-run partnership.
David Newman (14), Tim Hooper (17) and Pattinson (16) all scored in double figures to secure victory against the Hawks. Pattinson hit the winning runs in style with a boundary smashed over point and into the fence to conclude the innings at 5/254.
Carlton did everything right in its win against Fitzroy-Doncaster on the weekend, but it was hard to pick a fault in Dandenong’s game.
With the first finals win monkey gone from its back, Dandenong is flying high on confidence, but the Panthers will need to soar to new heights to overcome the class of Carlton.
The game bowls into action at 11am this Saturday at Shepley Oval.
