By JARROD POTTER
A TOUGH chase awaited Dandenong on Sunday at Frankston-Peninsula (230) as Australian paceman James Pattinson returned to the Panthers for the Frankston-Dandenong Road showdown.
Unable to utilise the tearaway paceman James Pattinson – back into the side as a batsman only, as he recovers from injury – Dandenong coach Ross Woodall leaned on up-and-coming quick Matt Willcocks (4/49) and new-ball pair James Wilcock (2/26) and Justin Butterfield (2/50).
Former Berwick spearhead Wilcock found captain Michael McClean (5) edging to Rob Hearn early in the set piece, before Willcocks claimed the rest of the top order as Dale Elmi (17) and Matt Gapes (12) fell cheaply.
It’s been a solid start to the season for Willcocks – claiming nine wickets so far in Premier First XI at 12.56 from his four matches.
The home side was reeling at 3/38 before a critical partnership formed between Sam Wiese (76) and Luke Walker (49).
A 113-run partnership was finally crushed by Willcocks, as the tail wagged another 50 runs onto the total, off the bat of Keirran Voelkl (21), Aiden Wheeler (18) and Glyn Trueman (12), before Dandenong ran through the remaining wickets.
Butterfield and Wilcock cleaned up the tail to put the Panthers back in for a little bat before stumps.
It left a tricky five-over spell for Brett Forsyth (10no) and captain Tom Donnell (5) to weather, but the openers held their nerve to resume on Saturday with 215 left for first innings points.
Dandenong needs to win to keep in touch with the finals bound teams in Victorian Premier Cricket, sitting in 14th place and five-points off eighth.
The Dandenong Journal went to print before final results were available.
