Two wickets in as many balls from medium-pacer Matt Chasemore sparked a Northcote batting collapse on Saturday.By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG looks to have secured a berth in the Premier Cricket finals after claiming first innings points over Northcote at Shepley Oval on Saturday.
Having elected to send the struggling Dragons in on a troublesome deck, the Panthers were forced to be patient as Northcote openers Jarrod Carlson (39) and Leigh Parsons (21) stood firm against a new-ball onslaught.
But just as the Dragons pair began to settle, crafty medium-pacer Matt Chasemore (3/11) emerged to change the game with a mesmerising spell before lunch.
After penetrating the defence of Parsons in his second over, Chasemore lured first-drop Travis Gloury into a fatal drive with the very next ball.
Gloury’s prod presented Darren Pattinson with a half-chance at silly-mid-off, which he scooped up brilliantly in his right hand before taking off towards third man with his jubilant teammates in hot pursuit.
From there, the Dragons crumbled dismally to a total of just 117 as leg-spinner Nathan Allen (3/14) spearheaded a rampant Panthers attack in the middle session.
In reply, Dandenong slumped to 7/88 as Northcote seamer Tim Hoare (6/56) used the unpredictable surface to full advantage.
But the Panthers chose to blast their way out of trouble, with middle-order batsman Adam Bull (59 not out) and gloveman Ricky Damiano (53) combining for 88 entertaining runs to usher their side to a handy lead.
Damiano was particularly explosive smashing eight boundaries in his 34-ball half-century, while tail-ender Paul Boraston was unbeaten at stumps after a damaging cameo appearance that reaped 20 runs off just 10 balls.
Closing at 8/207, the Panthers – sitting in sixth spot – will be pressing for a crucial outright victory this Saturday ahead of a final-round clash with the dangerous Ringwood Rams.
