By Nick Creely and Tyler Lewis
The Victorian Premier Cricket competition kicks off this weekend, with the Dandenong Cricket Club women’s side set to chase back-to-back premierships and continue a dominant chapter in the club’s history
Who could forget the mesmeric comeback win from the Panthers in last year’s grand final?
The Panthers looked done and dusted in its defence, before causing a Box Hill collapse on its way to premiership glory.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, the Panthers had a relatively subtle off-season, making very little movement and losing very few players. But in recent weeks, Dandenong have been left without its two-time premiership coach Andy Christie, as he joins Cricket Victoria as the Female Emerging Players Performance Manager.
Assistant coach Shame Lamour will step up to be the head coach of the program this season.
After feeling the agony and ecstasy of Premier Cricket in the last two seasons, Dandenong looms to be one of the key contenders again.
Kelly Applebee has hung up the boots after a splendid career and Maryam Omar has shifted to Carlton for geographical reasons, but with the likes of Kim Garth, Tiana Atkinson and Emma Gallagher filtered through the side, it’s bound to head in the right direction.
Many Panthers had fantastic individual seasons last year, earning themselves positions in Victorian programs, whether that will impact the Premier Cricket season when the delayed WNCL season commences is yet to be confirmed.
Expect the Panthers to win its first two games of the season comfortably, but Dandenong will need to bring it’s A-game in round 3 against Essendon Maribyrnong Park with the log jam that is the top four of this competition.
The expectation for this side has to be finals once again, it’s too rich in talent to settle for anything less and expect Tiana Atkinson to have a mammoth season where she blasts her first century.
In the Cricket Victoria Women’s Community Competition, local club Parkfield will also be hoping to build on its promise from last season in the Shield One Day competition.
The Bandits have welcomed back premiership coach Shane Cooray after he left to spend a season with the men’s program.
There’s been plenty of movement across the sides, with the Bandits welcoming in Brodie Whitmore (Frankston), Jasmine Bowater (Frankston), Su Hewawasam ( Richmond City), Nimnadhi Dahanayake (Carlton- Brunswick) and Mollie Devine (Ireland) to bolster the list.
But the Bandits have lost some quality, and some hard to replace with club champion Nilu Perera set to take the next step at Dandenong, while Tracey Koon has also left for the Panthers and all-rounder Taz Ziard has retired alongside star captain Ruvini Perera.
Officer is set to be an interesting side to keep an eye on in the South One Day competition, with the Bullants building nicely.
The club recently announced that Fern Brady will skipper the first XI this season, with the Bullants chuffed at her leadership attributes both on and off the field.
Under appointed coach Kim Isaacs, who brings a wealth of cricket knowledge to the Bullants, the club is hoping to push hard and play some strong finals cricket.
Former premiership coach Amanda Collins will captain the second XI.
