By Nick Creely
Tom Donnell is the kind of leader that relies on actions, not words, and he may just be Dandenong’s greatest ever batsman when he finishes up.
Heading into the 31-year-old’s 200th First XI match in Victorian Premier Cricket on Saturday against Casey-South Melbourne, his legacy across Victorian cricket continues to grow with each passing innings.
Across a career glittered with gutsy performances and stunning consistency, Donnell has compiled almost 7000 runs, has made 10 centuries and almost 40 half centuries as an opening batsman, but importantly, has been a heartbeat and loyal servant out of Shepley Oval.
Since joining the Panthers for the 2005/06 season, Tom’s endured the ups and downs that come with elite sport – he’s a premiership player whose best season was perhaps in 2012/13 when he was just 55 runs away from ploughing an incredible 1000 at a tick over 40, but he’s also stuck fat during a testing time a few years before Nick Speak joined the club for the 2016/17 season and become desperately close to playing for Victoria.
His great mate, and opening partner in crime, Brett Forsyth, shares his thoughts on the “unassuming” left hander.
“He’s going to go down as one of Dandenong’s greatest ever players – he’s pretty unassuming, and the main thing that sets him apart is his consistency,” he explained.
“The effort that he puts in and the love he has for the club is just so consistent, and to be able to do so well for a decade at least is incredible – more importantly, he’s just a great role model.
“He’s more of a role model in the way he does things with his actions, not his words, and in this day and age it’s a nice characteristic to have – Tom is very quiet, and prefers to lead in that type of style, he will leave a great legacy.
“We’ve played a lot of cricket together, and for a long time, and we’re both lucky enough to have Warren Ayres as a mentor, and he had a massive impact on the way Tommy plays.
“He’s extremely versatile as a player, and I think his foundations of having a really good technique and having really fast feet have set him up for red ball cricket, but as he’s got older and more aggressive, he’s been able to dominate attacks when he sees an opportunity in white ball cricket.
“I think the biggest compliment I can pay him is that whenever he bats, he plays to win – he will often put himself second to what is in the team’s best interest, and it’s a sign of a quality player.”
Forsyth said that despite Donnell making some extraordinary hundreds – including some brave knocks in Premier finals – one innings stands out among the rest.
“Tommy has scored some really important hundreds, whether it be in white ball cricket off not many balls, but also in red ball cricket where he has batted all day,” he said.
“He played an innings a couple of years ago against Carlton, he made 90 not out and carried the bat all day – he got hit a couple of times, the ball was flying around, it was a green seamer.”
“It was the best innings he has played, he just got behind the ball when others couldn’t play the seam – he was able to play beautifully and evade the ball as it seamed everywhere.”
The man himself admits he is chuffed by the achievement, but praised his club and team-mates for his successes so far.
“It makes me feel like I’m getting a bit older – it feels like I’ve been around for a while now, but yeah, it’s really good,” Donnell said.
“I’ve been lucky to play with some awesome players and people, and even against some really good players, so it’s been good fun and I’m enjoying every moment of it.
“Opening the batting is difficult, especially in the two dayers, and I’ve tried to stay consistent – when you enjoy it, you play well, and when you have good team-mates, it makes things a lot easier.
“I count myself really lucky.”
The Panthers will take on the Swans at Shepley Oval on Saturday from 11am in the milestone match.
