Panthers’ turn-around

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG skipper Darren Dempsey lost his first toss and won his first game for the club on Saturday.
Dempsey (80) played the consummate captain’s knock against Essendon at Windy Hill, guiding his Panthers to a dramatic final-over victory in their fifth one-day fixture of the season.
It was a welcome change in fortune for Dempsey and Dandenong coach Warren Ayres after a pair of agonising losses to Northcote and Ringwood in the opening rounds.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of a couple of those, so to win one was good,” said a relieved Ayres on Monday.
“Hopefully now we can string a few together.”
Essendon captain Brent Hutchinson jumped at the opportunity to bat first on the flat Windy Hill pitch, and Bombers batsmen Scott Bryant (58) and Aaron Mato (59) drove the advantage home with a pair of impressive half centuries.
The introduction of Dandenong swing king Paul Boraston (2/43) brought about their dismissals and the scoring soon became more difficult as the shine came off the ball.
Dempsey’s part-time off-spinners proved the most difficult for the Bombers to get away.
The captain claimed 1/30 from 10 overs, while front-liners Dave Newman (2/40), Paul Boraston (2/43), Darren Pattinson (1/41) and James Pattinson (1/43) all had success, as the Bombers pushed for late runs.
Ayres was happy to chase a “below par” total of 229, and his new opening duo of Dempsey and Damiano (31) set a good platform with a 49-run opening stand.
Tom Donnell (29) also made some valuable runs after his return to the first XI.
Dempsey eventually fell to Bomber paceman Clinton McKay (2/49) with the score at 5/187, leaving Dave Newman (28 not out) finish what his skipper had started.
Needing six runs from the final over, Newman hit a boundary off the first ball to ease the tension, then deferred to Darren Pattinson (7 not out) with a single.
Pattinson struck the winning runs from the third-last delivery.
Ayres was delighted with the result of a shake-up of his batting and bowling orders.
“We changed things up a fair bit, and I think it worked reasonably well in most areas,” he said.
“Maybe we needed to be a bit more daring in some of the things we do in one-day cricket, but it’s a real learning curve because they’re still a very young side.”
Ayres said his batsman would relish the opportunity to spend some more time at the wicket when the two-day fixtures began this weekend.
The Panthers will host Richmond at Shepley Oval on Saturday.