By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong’s four-game winning streak in Victorian Premier Cricket came to an end against Melbourne on Saturday as the Panthers failed to mark a major milestone for a favourite son in the manner it deserved.
Captain Brett Forsyth took the field for the 300th time at senior level for Dandenong, the 16th player to do so in the competition’s history, but his side was unable to defend 264 against Melbourne at the Albert Ground.
Forsyth made 68 as part of a successful top order but the remainder of the card failed to build on the foundations laid.
Forsyth and Matthew Wilson shared in a 101-run partnership before Wilson was run out for 47, and then a 57-run union with Shobit Singh before the milestone man made way for 68, his 54th career half-century.
Singh topscored with 76 as he, Wilson and Forsyth combined for 191 of the team’s 264 runs.
No other batter made 20, with the final four wickets of the innings falling for 16 runs.
The Panthers finished the innings eight wickets down but with a golden opportunity to build a big score on a traditionally batting-friendly surface having escaped through their fingers.
With Victorian-listed Campbell Kellaway and one of the competition’s most dominant players in recent years, Blake Thomson, on the Melbourne batting card, the defence was going to take everything the bowling group, missing Noah Hurley and Vishwa Ramkumar, could muster.
Thomson proved immovable and Kellaway another challenge in itself, making an unbeaten 116 and a run-a-ball 88, respectively, to power the run chase home for the hosts.
Dandenong could only manage two wickets as partnerships of 93 and 161 brought its run of strong form to an end.
Despite the loss, the Panthers sit in fifth place on the ladder heading into the Christmas break with finals on the cards in the back half of the season.
Singh has emerged as one of the state’s exceptional emerging cricketers, with 635 runs to his name thus far, nearly 100 more than his nearest rival.
Five fixtures remain in the 2024/25 season, beginning with a trip to Princes Park to face Carlton on 11 January.
