Panthers are feeling the heat

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG will need wickets early and often this Saturday if it is to avoid its first two-day defeat of the summer.
The Panthers are on the brink of surrendering first innings points to Carlton after a see-sawing battle at Shepley Oval on day one.
Play will resume with the Blues needing a further 20 runs – with four wickets in hand – to overhaul Dandenong’s modest total of 141.
Carlton skipper Tim Welsford saw enough in the Shepley wicket to bowl first on Saturday morning, but he may not have counted on some assistance from the Panthers batsmen.
After a steady opening of 26 between Brett Forsyth (26) and Tom Donnell (12), Dandenong imploded to be 6/84 shortly after lunch.
Several Panthers left the field ruing some ill-advised shot-making, but it was the accuracy of Carlton quick Andrew Dickinson (5/41) that exploited their deficiencies.
The arrival of in-form all-rounder James Nanopoulos (47 from 62 balls) saw a counter-attack from the Panthers, but only Darren Pattinson (17) showed the resolve to ride it out at the other end.
So when Blues seamer Chris Salm (3/24) slipped one through Pattinson – uprooting his middle stump – it prompted Nanopoulos to up the rating.
The increasingly assured left-hander finally fell to the part-time spin of Tim Buszard, edging an attempted drive to first slip to end the Panthers innings.
The dominance of ball over bat continued in the late session, as Dandenong pacemen Paul Boraston (2/33) and Darren Pattinson (2/45) put the blow-torch to the Blues’ top order.
And when all-rounder Dave Newman claimed the wicket of the dangerous Evan Gulbis, the Panthers were in control at 6/77.
But the Blues hit back again via a patient partnership between Nick Ross (27) and Chris Millard (25), who negotiated some close calls to guide their side towards a stumps score of 6/122.
Dandenong coach Warren Ayres was unsure what to make of the turbulent day’s play.
“It ebbed and flowed throughout the day,” he said. “There were times when we were on top, but we let it slip and I think they finished on top. But if we can get one wicket straight up on Saturday the game takes another turn.”
Ayres called Nanopoulos’ knock “a maturing innings”, but conceded that a few of the more experienced Panthers would have been disappointed with their mode of dismissal.
The Panthers relied heavily on their frontline pace trio of Pattinson, Boraston and Newman, who bowled 36 of 44 overs, and only the game will be in their hands early on day two.