By Marcus Uhe
257 runs stand between Dandenong and its first win of the Premier Cricket season next week against Prahran thanks to an impressive display with the ball from the Panthers’ new-look bowling attack.
In their first home fixture of the new season, Tom Donnell’s side reined-in an impressive start from one of last year’s finalists to give themselves an achievable target to bank early season points.
Each of the visitor’s top five made starts, scoring 25 or more, albeit at a low strike rate in wintry conditions at Shepley Oval thanks to scattered showers and chilly winds.
But from a position of strength at 4/203 at the beginning of the 67th over, the final six wickets fell for just 53 runs with Matthew Wilson leading the charge.
He had Prahran’s top-scorer Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan caught behind for 44 and later had Nicholas Morrey and Sam Beer removed in back-to-back overs on his way to excellent figures of 4/55 from his 18 overs.
He got the ball rolling for the fielding side, having opening batter James Billington caught by Dhanushua Gamage before spinners Vishwa Ramkumar and Gehan Seneviratne removed Alex Turner and Damon Egan, respectively, before promising partnerships could be further solidified.
Ramkumar finished with the best figures of the spinners, 2/29 from his 10, while Noah Hurley claimed the final two wickets in consecutive deliveries in the 90th over to bring the innings to a close.
At Greenvale, Casey South Melbourne are 23 runs into a chase of 105, following a stunning opening spell from Nathan Lambden.
When wicketkeeper Devin Pollock snared his third catch of the innings at the beginning of the seventh over, Lambden had single-handedly reduced the hosts to 4/7, having sent each of the top four on their way for three ducks and a score of two.
Kalhan Sineth and the lower order offered some resistance for the Kangaroos but they were eventually dismissed in the 52nd over.
Lambden finished with 5/36 in his 16 overs, Ruwantha Kellapotha (3/17 off 15) and Devlin Webb (2/26 from 12) the other major contributors for the Swans.
Yash Pednekar and Ashley Chandrasinghe will resume the chase on 17 and five, respectively.
