The summer came to a close on a sour note for Dandenong (239) as the Panthers went down at home to Carlton (8/317d) in round 17 of Victorian Premier Cricket.
Chasing the monstrous total set by the visitors was always going to be a big task despite a very strong start.
Venuk Hemachandra (16) was the first man to go, leaving Dandenong 1/39 before skipper Brett Forsyth and number three Dhanusha Gamage settled in for their last batting effort of the season.
The pair combined to add over 50 runs, before the partnership was broken when Forsyth (48) played a poor shot and was caught by a juggling Aryan Sharma at mid wicket off the bowling of Connor Rutland.
The Panthers seemed to still be tracking well at 2/108, before a flurry of wickets saw them collapse in the middle.
It started when Shobit Singh (19) was bowled, followed by the dismissals of Josh Slater (5), Gamage (45), James Nanopoulos (2) and Sam Newell (0).
Dandenong moved from 2/132 to 7/170 from the collapse.
Matthew Wilson (34) and Vishwa Ramkumar (37) fought incredibly hard in the tail, creating a partnership of nearly 70 runs before Ramkumar was caught.
Wilson and Noah Hurley (0) weren’t far behind and the hosts were knocked over for 239, marking a 78-run defeat to conclude the season.
Forsyth was yet again Dandenong’s leading runscorer for the summer as the champion opening bat had another outstanding season, managing 603 runs at an average of 60.3.
Rising star Hurley was the leading wicket taker with 25 poles for the season at a respectable average of 23.8.
Casey South Melbourne (130 and 182) will be hoping to reproduce its round 17 effort against Richmond (70 and 9/218) as the Swans will face the Tigers again in the first round of the postseason.
After 20 wickets fell on day one and Casey South Melbourne already in possession of the first innings points, the Swans went out to bat with a lead of 60 and a fresh slate.
But again they were undone at the crease, with a fantastic yet remarkable knock from Muhammad Irfan (83 off 73) at the tail end salvaging things somewhat.
Irfan had scored double digits just once this season batting at the very bottom which made the effort even more significant.
However, Casey South Melbourne was rolled for 182 as Mitch Perry took three wickets.
In the chase, Richmond was caught short with James Doherty (81) the shining light for the Tigers.
Richmond saw its way through to stumps without giving the Swans the extra points, but fell short by 60 runs at 9/218.
Ashvin Adihetty took four wickets for Casey South Melbourne in victory.
The Swans will play Richmond in an elimination final this week as they finished fifth and the Tigers finished eighth.
