By Marcus Uhe
A thrilling battle between Casey South Melbourne and Dandenong in Victorian Premier Cricket T20 action at Casey Fields set the scene for a brilliant day of quality action across three competitive matches.
GAME 1
DANDENONG 3/145 def CASEY SOUTH MELBOURNE 9/144
Dandenong leg-spinner Gehan Seneviratne was the hero in the Panthers’ seven-wicket in the opening contest, bowling four overs of leg spin and taking a brilliant juggling catch on the rope, before hitting the winning runs on the penultimate delivery of the match to seal victory.
With four runs required off the final two balls, he nailed a straight drive past veteran left-arm quick Jackson Fry towards his nervous teammates beyond the long-on boundary, who rode the ball home having completed the task at hand.
A tricky batting surface and a 9.30am start gave Dandenong the better of conditions, keeping Casey South Melbourne to 9/144.
No partnership passed 50 and no batter reached 40 as the continual flow of wickets stymied efforts to build momentum at Casey Fields.
Sam Newell’s quick-thinking behind the stumps ran out Luke Shelton on 27 and Ruwantha Kellapotha was removed shortly after for 37 after hitting a low return catch to Seneviratne.
Seneviratne and spin-twin Vishwa Ramkumar bowled brilliantly during the middle overs with accurate and probing deliveries that consistently challenged the stumps.
Crossing triple figures for the loss of just three wickets, the Swans then waste solid foundations made by the top order, with batters number five to 10 combining for just 42 runs.
Veteran James Nanopoulos finished with 3/20 from four overs while Ramkumar’s 0/17 from his four reflected the high esteem in which he’s held by pathway coaches.
The chase, while not a huge, was anything but simple and not settled until the final over of the innings.
Where the home side lost wickets in the pursuit of quick runs, Dandenong’s opening pair Matthew Wilson and Shobit Singh showed restraint by picking gaps in the field with conventional cricket shots.
Singh departed just as he appeared to find his rhythm, skying a cut shot into the gloves of Devin Pollock, having lifted Kellapotha for a glorious six over cover just a handful of deliveries prior.
Wilson rode his luck, meanwhile, surviving dropped chances by Kellapotha early in his stay, and from Matthew Calder on 29, before Kellapotha made amends when he reached 35.
Their departures saw Nanopoulos join forces with an established Brett Forsyth at the crease with 48 runs required from the final 36 deliveries.
The experienced heads navigated the situation well, finding the occasional boundary and rotating the strike as Shelton turned to his leaders in Kellapotha and Nathan Lambden for breakthroughs.
The Swans dropped their fielding standards as the Panthers’ pair continued to chip away at the target.
Wickets in hand meant they could play with some reservations but the longer the innings went the more tense it became.
Kellapotha bowled a brilliant 16th over for the Swans, conceding just three runs from the first five deliveries but Nanopoulos then advanced down the wicket to find a boundary.
The 17th over yielded another seven, leaving 27 runs needed from the final 18.
The 18th was a wild one from Jack Stevenson, conceding just five off the bat but another five in extras in what was a 10-ball over.
Forsyth departed at the end of the 19th, leaving Nanopoulos and Seneviratne to finish the job, with nine required from the final over.
Fry bowled tight lines early in the over to Nanopoulos, who threw caution to the wind by taking a leg bye on the fourth ball, giving his new partner the strike, with four required from the last two.
His faith in Seneviratne was rewarded, however, who calmly finished off the job.
Forsyth top-scored with 46 from 38 deliveries; in Dandenong’s first win over the Swans in T20’s since 2016.
GAME 2
DANDENONG 8/105 def ESSENDON 9/102
Essendon sent the Panthers in to bat for game two, but only Wilson could find a foothold in slippery conditions making 59 in a rain-shortened innings as Dandenong reached 8/105.
Half an hour of play was lost due to a rain delay in the Panthers’ innings with the contest reduced to 16 overs per side.
Forsyth’s 15 was the highest score beyond Wilson’s, leaving the bowlers with a huge challenge in front of them to notch a second win.
Nanopoulos made a dream start with the ball, removing the Essendon openers early, while Ramkumar and Seneviratne were economical and attacking once more, with no Bombers partnership passing 20.
Playing the role Wilson did for Essendon, however, was Connor Poulton.
The Bombers’ number four saw partners come and go but remained his side’s primary hope of winning, with a flurry of boundaries in the final four overs dragging his side back.
With 18 runs required from the last over, Poulton thick-edged boundaries off Nathan Whitford’s opening two balls to draw the equation back to an outside chance.
Whitford then executed a wide yorker brilliantly and escaped with a dot ball off the third.
They ran two with a leg-side heave on the fourth, with now eight required from the last two balls.
But another sensational wide yorker by Whitford ensured the task was impossible on the final ball, with eight runs required.
Poulton nailed a four, but it was to no avail, as the Panthers made it two wins from two matches with Seneviratne joined Nanopoulos in taking three wickets in the defence.
GAME 3
CASEY SOUTH MELBOURNE 3/189 def ESSENDON 9/178
Casey’s second contest of the day was considerably more batter friendly, with 367 runs scored as the home side downed Essendon by 11 runs.
While receiving an even spread of contributors, it was the Kellapotha show once more, who showed his class with bat and ball.
He was one of four to make a contribution with the bat, adding 55 from 36 as the Swans reached 3/189, before taking 4/22 to spearhead the defence.
His wickets came in groups, twice taking two wickets in the same over.
Shelton (45), Calder (42) and Ashley Chandrasinghe (29) all helped push the Swans to an excellent total, scoring at more than nine runs per over.
Each scored at a strike rate over 100, with Calder’s reaching 200 and Kellapotha’s 152.7.
Essendon started well but lost its top three batters for three runs, as the first of Kellapotha’s double strikes made an impact.
Regular wickets by the Swans forced the visitors into a stop-start chase, with seamers Fry and Lambden striking in the middle overs between Kellapotha’s efforts.
The T20 portion of the season continues this week, with the Swans heading to St Kilda, to face Greenvale and Melbourne at the Albert Ground.
Dandenong, meanwhile, hosts Kingston Hawthorn and Geelong at Shepley Oval.
