By ROY WARD
IT’S barely believable but Dandenong Panthers have made a second straight Premier Cricket grand final.
The Panthers, who just made the finals after finishing in eighth place, beat Prahran outright at Toorak Park yesterday to qualify for the season decider and give themselves a chance at a second straight premiership.
Panthers captain Darren Dempsey won the toss on Saturday and had no problems putting the True Blues in to bat.
But his decision looked the wrong one after the opening overs with True Blues openers Steve Seymour (23) and Daniel Salpietro (16) getting their side to 0-49 before a bowling change saw experienced pair Paul Boraston and Brent Fairbanks come into the attack and quickly snare a wicket each to leave the home side 2-49.
From that point the Panthers took regular wickets as the True Blues lost 8-70 to be 119 all out. Panthers bowlers James Nanopoulos (3-15), Boraston (3-23) and Fairbanks (2-24) shared the wickets.
With 44 overs left in the day Panthers openers Tom Donnell (61) and Brett Forsyth (38) set about taking their side to a first-innings win and they almost got there before Forsyth went out with the score on 90.
Donnell fell at 1-114 leaving Patrick Sweeney and Ben Hocking to resume on day 2 at 2-117, which they passed early yesterday.
Dempsey said the attacking nature of his experienced bowlers created their wickets.
“Early on we didn’t bowl that well,” he said. “We didn’t use the conditions but when we made the change in bowling, Boraston and Fairbanks got the ball in the right areas and we went through them.
“They both have a knack for taking wickets. Banksy just puts the ball in places which take wickets, Boraston bowls a pretty full length while James Nanopoulos always bowls full and that proved the key.
“Prahran really batted irresponsibly and didn’t put in the hard work to stay at the crease.”
Dempsey, who will retire at the end of the season, said he was shocked his side had again made a grand final from back in the field.
“Can I believe it? Not really,” he said. “I thought we would beat Carlton last week but I wasn’t very confident heading to Prahran on Saturday.
“They had the wood on us the last few matches but those had all been one-day games. It’s testament to the guys for being able to turn it on come finals time.”
Dandenong will face Richmond at Junction Oval this Friday, Saturday and Sunday with play starting at 10.30am.
