By DANIEL PAPROTH
RETURNING Test quick James Pattinson was not enough to stop St Kilda from beating Dandenong by 41 runs in Premier Cricket on Saturday.
Pattinson, playing his first competitive game since suffering a side strain in the Adelaide Test match against South Africa, bowled eight overs in three spells.
Speaking after Dandenong’s innings, he said he was pleased to be back playing and to get through unhurt, but said his next move — Big Bash, ODI cricket or another district game — would be up to Cricket Australia.
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The Panthers won the toss and sent the Saints in on a slow deck with an even slower, sandy outfield. Pattinson opened the bowling alongside Justin Butterfield and was superb early, finishing his first four-over spell with figures of 1-2, bowling Melbourne Star Scott Henry for a second-ball duck.
But the Panthers were thwarted by an outstanding 114-run partnership between the evergreen St Kilda skipper Graeme Rummans (80) and Andrew McGuinness (59), who took the game away from Dandenong.
Their partnership was built largely on singles and twos, with good shots regularly pulling up short before the boundary. Between them, they hit just five fours and three sixes.
The Saints reached 9-207 from their 50 overs with Butterfield taking 5-38 from his 10 overs. Pattinson took 2-21 as well as a spectacular run-out of Damon Rowan, who charged down the pitch to hit the ball, which went straight back to Pattinson, who hit the stumps with Rowan out of his ground.
Tom Donnell (26) and Charith Cooray (18) got Dandenong off to a solid start, putting on 49 for the first wicket, until Daniel Forbes removed the pair in consecutive balls. From there St Kilda tightened the bowling, with Pattinson (36) getting the highest score. Some poor batting and strange decisions — Dan Doran was given out LBW despite appearing to be a long way down the pitch — did not help the cause.
St Kilda wrapped up the innings in 45.3 overs, the Panthers bowled out for 166. Forbes took 4-29, leggie James Muirhead 3-35 and Lachlan Graf 2-43.
Panthers captain Donnell said his side should have chased down the total. “We maybe should have kept them to a bit less. A couple of blokes got away from us, but I still think we should have chased the total down,” he said. “Some poor batting cost us today. We thought we had a few good shouts against McGuinness that got turned down but that happens, and Rummans just batted really well as he always does. That won them the game in the end.”
Rummans said he was stoked with the victory. “It was a fantastic effort to beat Dandenong. Even without Pattinson they’re a very strong side.
“The conditions were tough and the wicket was probably not ideal for one-day cricket, so to get 207 and defend it was really good.
“McGuinness changed the game with a fantastic innings. He really took it up to them.”
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