By JARROD POTTER
VICTORIAN PREMIER CRICKET
IF YOU can’t join ‘em… beat them.
Dandenong Cricket Club’s Victorian Premier Cricket fixture was released on Tuesday and it confirmed a heated match-up will be first on the agenda – Dandenong versus Kingston Hawthorn.
The newly formed side, merged from the Kingston Saints in VSDCA and the former Hawthorn-Monash University Premier team, is the result of Hawthorn walking away from a proposed merger with Dandenong at the 11th hour.
With the failed merger between Dandenong and Hawthorn Monash University still fresh with many Premier cricketers, it will be a fiery way for the Panthers to begin the season.
Dandenong coach Ross Woodall said the group wasn’t too concerned with what could have been with the merger and was just looking forward to whoever faces off against them each week.
“Probably haven’t thought about it too much to be honest,” Woodall said.
“We just want to prepare for that first game as well as we possibly can – whether the first game is against Kingston or anyone else, we want to be in the best position to take the points.
“There may be a bit more feeling to it, but since it’s a game of cricket we just have to make sure by the end of that weekend we have the four points in the bank and we’re starting the season the way we want to.”
Dandy depth has been replenished through the local ranks as a number of juniors look set to fill out the second and third sides heading into the season, but the big ins should place Dandenong’s 1st XI well for a tilt at Victoria Premier Cricket finals after a two-season absence.
That ‘ins’ list is headed by Greenvale’s Alex Kerr – bringing his batting nuance to a local Premier club – alongside Prahran all-rounder Michael Nyary and the biggest Dandenong in – Darren Pattinson.
Pattinson returns from a year in the DDCA at Doveton and the former skipper and premiership player will add depth and a bit of edge to the younger bowling and battling ranks.
“It’s critical that our first grade team gets back to a position to play finals – we haven’t been able to do that recently – and landing Darren Pattinson is a massive in for us, in what he brings to us on game day and also his leadership.”
Leaving the group from the 1st XI are Nathan Lambden (Casey-South Melbourne), Matt Willcocks (Northcote) and the skipper Dan Doran – who has returned to the Gold Coast for work reasons.
Woodall said the club was tossing up whether an import spinner would be brought in for the season, otherwise the duties would fall to the eager hands of young tandem Tanner Stanton and Jack Worrell.
Tom Donnell will skipper the new-look side, with vice-captain James Nanopoulos, in its first outing on Sunday 4 October, at Shepley Oval.
