By Nick Creely
It was a start no one expected, a horror show with no ending in sight for Carlton on Sunday.
In a performance that will be talked about for years on end, Dandenong triumphed for their first piece of silverware for the season, defeating the Blues in one of the most dominant bowling displays in the competition’s history.
As a renowned ‘bowl first’ side, Tom Donnell’s bowlers licked their lips when Blues skipper Lachlan McKenna won the toss and elected to bat, on a deck described as having a “good amount of grass” on it.
But the healthy crowd couldn’t have seen what was about to happen.
In what was an electric, intense, and utterly frightening first hour, the carnage began in the second over when Darren Pattinson skittled opening batsman Brayden Stepien (1) with a brilliant piece of bowling with his first ball of the match.
Young prodigy Mackenzie Harvey (0) fell almost instantly after, feathering a ball to Jacques Augustin with the gloves to gift the Panthers the perfect start.
Harrison (9) and Tom Smyth (6) steadied the ship – only momentarily – before Augustin snared two more catches to dismiss the pair off the bowling of Jak Jowett (3/18) and James Nanopoulos (1/3).
Pattinson struck even more gold, firing a ball into Nick Ross’ (2) stumps to bring the score to 5/20, before the 38-year-old bamboozled both Anderson Matthews (0) and Matthew Wilson (1) to give Augustin more catching practice.
Suddenly the score was 7/22, and no, it wasn’t a scoreboard error.
McKenna (2 off 56 balls) battled in vain but couldn’t get the ball past the infield, while Xavier Crone (16) – who was the only Blue to cross double figures – looked to get some runs on the board.
Wily medium pacer Peter Cassidy (2/12) finally brought the undoing of the skipper, gifting Donnell a catch at first slip, and then shot out Crone into the grateful gloves of Augustin for his sixth catch of the innings.
The last wicket didn’t take long, with Jowett trapping Eddy O’Sullivan (5) LBW – the final score was just 49 in 36.2 overs of perfect bowling.
It was Pattinson (4/12) who was the main man, with the veteran winding back the clock in a vintage display, and explained after the game the mindset of his side after champion openers Tom Donnell and Brett Forsyth chased the runs and claimed the premiership after just 16 overs.
“I thought there would be a bit of swing there, with the cloud cover and the warmth, so when we got there we were always going to bowl,” he said of the astonishing display.
“They won the toss and chose to bowl, so we were happy – we still had to bowl well, and field well, and we did.
“We bowl first every game, the one time we didn’t we lost – our plan was definitely to bowl.
“We did execute, but there was something there (in the pitch) – there was a bit of swing and some seam movement, which is quite unusual for Carlton.”
While the 38-year-old champion was utterly brilliant throughout the innings, he heaped praise on what he describes as a “special” bowling group.
“I’ve been bowling well, the ball has been coming out really good – I was a bit worried at the start of the season that I might be past it, but it’s coming out really well, and I felt like I was going to get a wicket with every ball,” he said.
“I think we’ve got the best bowling group in the competition – we’ve got blokes in the seconds, thirds and fourths that are going to play ones – I’ve been here 18 years, and this is the best group of young bowlers we’ve had.”
The Panthers will now turn their attention to the two day final, and currently sit on top of the ladder.
