By Jonty Ralphsmith
Casey South Melbourne is set to face Dandenong in a local derby in the first round of the Vic Premier Cricket finals on Saturday.
It follows the Swans’ agonising two-run loss to second-placed Carlton and Dandenong’s 112-run victory over Footscray.
Chasing 276 at Casey Fields, the hosts recovered from 3/19 to put themselves on the front foot thanks to a 159-run partnership between Ash Chandrasinghe and Yash Pednekar.
The runs will be a great confidence-booster for Chandrasinghe on the eve of finals, after following twin 42s with a pair of low scores in a couple of recent Second XI matches.
Pednekar’s 84 is his third half century of the season, while Chandrasinghe’s 81 goes with two Vic Premier Cricket tons in 2024-25.
But that pair fell in quick succession with Casey still 90 runs behind, putting great responsibility on Devin Pollock to bat with the lower order.
The wicketkeeper played a gritty hand of 47 off 134 balls as wickets flowed at the other end.
His calmness looked as though it would be enough to guide the Swans to victory before number-10 Harry Hoekstra was dismissed for 22 after a 50-run partnership, leaving Casey with one wicket in hand.
Agonisingly, Pollock went out the following over to standout bowler Cam Stevenson, with his side two runs short of the target.
The terrific finish followed Carlton’s Jai Lemire setting the game up with a century on day one.
At Mervyn Hughes Oval, the Panthers denied any Footscray batters the big scores necessary to challenge the massive 363 set on day one.
James Nanopoulos took a wicket with the first ball of the day to set the tone for Dandenong.
He finished with 4/23 off 14.2 high-intensity overs, with his wickets including Footscray skipper and former First Class player Travis Dean.
Dandenong’s biggest challenge came via a 70-run fourth-wicket partnership before Gehan Seneviratne secured the breakthrough during a tireless spell of 3/76.
At the conclusion of the home and away season, breakout Dandenong batter Shobit Singh leads the competition runs tally with 907 at 75.58, and Casey-South Melbourne tweaker Ruwantha Kellapotha has the most wickets with 37 at an average of 21.
