By Tyler Lewis
Dandenong finished its season on the highest of notes, with a crushing win over Greenvale Kangaroos.
The Panthers were sent in on a leafy track, but defied the look of the wicket with a stirring performance with the bat.
Champions Brett Forsyth (66) and Tom Donnell (68) carved out another 147-run opening stand, before sitting themselves aside for what can only be described as a James Pattinson clinic.
“We lost the toss and they were pretty keen to send us in, it was one of those wickets that was fairly green,” Forsyth said.
“The bowlers from both teams were excited to bowl first; we toyed with the option of batting first so it was a good toss to lose.
“The game plan was to knuckle down for the first 10 and make sure we didn’t lose a wicket, from that point of view the plan worked well.
“We felt like we did a good job and we were able to accelerate a bit after the drinks break and then Tom (Donnell) and I probably got out at a good time to bring Patto (James Pattinson), (Josh) Slater and Matt Wilson in to finish the job.”
During the Panthers total of 6/282, many were wondering if it was going to be the last time Forsyth and Donnell would bat together, and while there was a larger job at hand, it also crept across the Dandy skippers mind too.
“Your mind wanders, you think ‘I wonder if this is the last time we get the opportunity to put out team in a winning position’,” he said.
“That thought leaves your mind pretty quickly because you have a job to do, you just try and enjoy it as much as possible.
“I wasn’t sure if he was going to retire, I am still not sure, hopefully he plays on because I think he has played some good cricket this year and has been invaluable around the group.
“Whatever he decides is completely fine with me… I was certainly hoping he could get to three figures, but that’s cricket, it wasn’t meant to be.”
When the pair both departed with just one run being added – proving they truly do not like batting with anyone else – it sent Pattinson to the crease.
And after getting off to a reasonable start with 33 off 32, Pattinson exploded, hitting seven sixes from his next nine balls.
Excruciatingly for Greenvale, several of those from Harry Singh were no balls, with the Panthers – at one stage – scoring 31 from two legal balls.
Forsyth unsurprisingly enjoyed the fireworks from his long-standing teammate, while also revealing a pact ‘Patto’ made with Donnell almost two decades ago.
“He batted really well to get himself in, he got those 30 balls under his belt to get to a position where he thought he could launch,” he said.
“Unfortunately for him (Singh), but fortunately for us, he overstepped the mark a few times.
“In doing so, Patto was able to clear the mid-on and mid-wicket boundary, it was a short boundary, but he was hitting them 50 metres over the boundary.
“It was great to watch, it showcased why he is still international standard.
“Not many players can do that… Tom tells a funny story of when James was 15 he came up to Tommy at training and said ‘I will be the best all-rounder the club has ever seen’… and it’s funny looking back because he was right.
“He loves playing for the Dandenong Cricket Club.”
The Panthers defended the total comfortably, with Pattinson again starring with 3/24 off 10.
The win is the Panthers fifth for the summer.
