Victorian Premier Cricket: Prahran makes it three straight as Damon Egan fires

Prahran has won three straight Premier Cricket matches with coach Justin Graham revealing the keys to his side’s recent success.

Victorian Premier Cricket: Dandenong v Prahran. Nicholas Boland and Prahran team mates celebrate a wicket. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Brutal and honest conversations were the spark Prahran didn’t realise it needed.

After back-to-back losses in November, the True Blues were forced to reassess where they thought their Victorian Premier Cricket season would go.

But after three straight wins, including Saturday’s victory over Dandenong, have shot Justin Graham’s side right back to finals contention.

Next they’ll face last season’s grand finalist Casey-South Melbourne before two-day games return the following week.

“We sat down and had some pretty honest conversations after those losses,” Graham said.

“To the boys’ credit, they’ve responded really well and put themselves right back on track. The pressure has been on to respond and we’ve handled ourselves really well.

Nicholas Boland finished with two wickets. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“The weekend was really tough, Matt Wilcox did a calf and the conditions were difficult with the heat. In the end it was a big win for us.

“Now we’ve got a good chance to see how we stack up against a strong side, who we still rate very highly despite their ladder position.”

After his side came away with a four-wicket win, Graham couldn’t speak any higher of star batsman Damon Egan.

Egan produced his fourth half-century of the season, scoring 92 runs from 117 balls as his side chased down its total of 257 with just seven balls to spare.

Graham believed his star batsman was “unlucky” to not reach triple figures but heaped praise on his form this season.

Matt Wilcox suffered a calf injury. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“He unfortunately got the ball of the day from Ben Allison, it was a sensational yorker which looked 10-15km/h quicker than anything else on the day,” he said.

“He’s in the sublime knick at the moment. He just came out at played his shots like he has all season. Our top order really set the run chase up for us.

“(Cameron) Hemp and (Ethan) Brookes were terrific upfront. Brookesy was absolutely smoking them and seeing them like beach balls.

“The pressure was on from the start and the boys managed to work their way through a tough opening period

“Overall it was a very well executed run chase.”

Sahan Perera top scored for Dandenong. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Despite coming away with the points, Graham admitted there was parts of his side’s game that needed improving in the coming weeks.

After being sent into bat by the visitors, Dandenong posted 5-256 from its 50 overs as Brett Forsyth (64 runs from 109 balls) and Sahan Perera (70 runs) led the way.

Hemp and Nick Boland took two wickets apiece for Prahran.

“It was an absolute belter of a pitch and the outfield was nice and fast but I didn’t think we executed well enough with the ball,” Graham said.

“Forsyth and Perera put together an important partnership and thankfully we were able to break that because it probably helped to limit the score they put on the board.”