Miracle haul for Panthers pair

By Paul Pickering
A MIRACULOUS partnership between Brent Fairbanks and Rory Collins has put Dandenong in the driver’s seat in its two-day clash with Northcote.
Fairbanks (127), with his maiden first XI ton, and wicket-keeping recruit Collins (94) put on 216 runs in a club record eighth-wicket stand at Shepley Oval on Saturday to steer the Panthers to the highest day-one total in the competition.
Incredibly, their defiant partnership followed an opening session in which everything went wrong for the hosts.
They batted first and slumped to 3/30, before number five Rees Thomas clipped the ball off his bat towards Northcote short-leg fieldsman Andrew Sturgess.
The ball ricocheted off Sturgess’ chest and into the grill of his helmet, before the stunned Dragon plucked the ball out from under his chin to claim the catch.
Thomas left the field mystified by the umpire’s verdict, shaking his head in disbelief as the Panthers plunged towards six-down at lunch.
Dragons spearhead Mark Doyle had four of those scalps and looked set to tear Dandenong’s lower order apart. Then again, perhaps Fairbanks and Collins should no longer be considered part of that lower order.
Panthers skipper Darren Dempsey – himself the victim of a dubious lbw decision – was as shocked as anyone by the afternoon revival.
“It was unbelievable the way it turned around, because it wasn’t easy early and I thought the wicket was going to be pretty bad all day,” he said. “I said to a couple of the guys at lunch that if we got to 130 I’d be rapt, because it would at least give us something to bowl at. So to end up with that (total) was just amazing.”
It was no secret that both Fairbanks and Collins could bat, but Saturday’s stand was a breakout performance for both players.
Fairbanks, who smashed 20 boundaries in his brutal 179-ball innings, has made some important runs in recent years, but only now can he claim genuine all-rounder status.
And Collins, who moved across from Essendon in search of an opportunity in the top flight, had been run out twice in his luckless first month at the club, but repaid the Panthers’ faith with a beautifully measured knock on Saturday.
It deserved a century, but he fell one blow short, stumped as he advanced towards ex-Dandenong spinner Nathan Allen.
“I thought they both batted with superb patience,” Dempsey said of the partnership.
“They complemented each other brilliantly, because Brent obviously likes to give it a fair whack when it’s in his zone, and Rory was very calm and solid in the way he went about it.It was probably the perfect partnership in that respect.”
The Dragons, jubilant at the lunch interval, will now be at long odds to salvage a result of any kind this weekend.
Meanwhile, Fairbanks and the Panthers will be itching to get the leather in their hands.