By Marcus Uhe
Brooklyn Diwell played a breakout game to lead Dandenong to low-scoring victory over Geelong in the women’s Victorian Premier Cricket competition at Thomas Carroll Reserve.
The Cardinia junior took 7/16 from 8.4 overs to flip the match on its head, after Geelong looked likely to cruise to its target of 138.
The score was 1/86 when Diwell arrived at the bowling crease, and she broke through in her second and fourth overs.
But with Geelong so comfortably on top, those wickets presented as though they would stymie the chase rather than change the course of the match.
Even as the venomous quick continued to probe, defeat seemed inevitable, with Geelong edging their way towards the target.
11 runs from victory with five wickets in hand, Diwell had number seven Meika King caught by Vanchica Pathania.
Pathania then took a wicket to start her over to put the game back in the balance, before the teenager took her fifth by castling Annabelle Glossop in the 44th over.
Two overs later, she took back-to-back wickets to finish the miraculous bowling performance.
Led by the all-rounder’s best performance at Premier level, Dandenong took 6/10 – including 5/5 – to finish the innings and record back-to-back victories to start the one-day component of the season.
The late-overs bowling masterclass followed a scrappy batting performance where no one passed 20 for Dandenong.
The Panthers have a bye this weekend before hosting Essendon Maribyrnong Park in round 4.
Meanwhile, Dandenong’s men’s position of promise after the first day of its contest against Northcote was squandered in disappointing fashion on Saturday, consigning the Panthers to their first loss of the 2024/25 summer.
Having made a critical early breakthrough last week to have the visitors on the back foot coming into the second day, the Panthers took just five more wickets as Northcote reached the total in the 90th over.
Adding to the frustration for the home side was the excellent morning with the ball, as Noah Hurley single-handedly ran through Northcote’s top order in the early stages.
On the back of the late wicket last week, Hurley grabbed numbers three, four and five in a sensational opening spell to put Dandenong in the box seat, as their opponents fell to 4/41 in the 18th over.
Beyond Hurley, however, Dandenong’s bowlers lacked penetration and struggled to make inroads.
Two Northcote batters passed 50 with Aaron Cripse going even further to finish on 116 not out.
Hurley finished with 4/101 from 20.3 overs with Vishwa Ramkumar and Matt Wilson each taking one wicket each.
James Nanopoulos and Nathan Whitford were both wicketless.
Dandenong welcomes Greenvale to Shepley Oval next week, a side riding high after chasing 309 against Frankston Peninsula for the loss of just two wickets.
It was the Kangaroos’ first win of the summer, having dropped their opening two contests.
