St Kilda fights to draw to deny Dandy a finals berth
Thanks to skipper Adam Crosthwaite and No 10 Will Lovell, the Saints got through a tense final session, allowing Essendon to stay in the finals.
Inner South
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When St Kilda captain Adam Crosthwaite drove a boundary from the second-last ball of the 96th over at Shepley Oval on Saturday, two clubs were delighted and one was deeply disappointed.
The Saints were eight wickets down when the classy Crosthwaite hit the four.
It meant that, with one ball to be bowled, his team had pulled off a stirring draw against Dandenong in the final round of Premier Cricket.
And it meant Dandy had been denied a finals berth.
They needed the six points from a win to jump into the top eight at the expense of Essendon, which had been thumped by Monash Tigers and was now relying on St Kilda to hold on for a draw.
Bombers president Simon Tobin and his players, committee and supporters were on edge as the tense, tight last hour was played out at Shepley.
The Saints were chasing 8-277 but long before tea they were in survival mode after the Panthers bored through the top-order.
Soon into the final session the visitors were in deeper trouble when Dandenong offie Suraj
Randiv struck twice in an over, having Josh Bartlett caught in close and Todd Murphy LBW, trying to sweep his second ball.
That brought young Will Lovell out to the middle to accompany Crosthwaite.
They needed to bat more than 90 minutes to turn away Dandenong.
And amid nerve-scraping tension, they did, guiding the Saints to safety at 8-157.
Crosthwaite tried to take most of the strike, but Lovell, a left-hander with a long stride and a tight defence, looked untroubled against every bowler, even the outstanding Randiv, who was finding turn to go with his accuracy.
Lovell left what he could. What he played, he played well. He made two not out off 76 deliveries.
Technically, he may well be the best No 10 in Premier Cricket; the Saints sent him in as a nightwatchman against Geelong in Round 13 and he ended up making 21 in 79 minutes.
Crosthwaite combined certain defence with spanking drives and pulls as he took his score from 29 at tea to 74 not out at stumps. His runs came off 207 balls and included 12 fours. It was a superb innings. If someone had suggested after the match that a lack of partners had cost him a century, he would have been entitled to answer that it was more like 150.
Dandenong took the new ball at the 80th over but Nanopoulos, needing one wicket to go past the club-record aggregate of 46, was well down on pace due to injury. Captain Tom Donnell gave Englishman Josh Shaw, Jakeb Thomas, Peter Cassidy and Randiv turns in the last 16 overs but they were unable to break through, despite much encouragement from the balcony.
How about Randiv? The former Sri Lankan spinner returned 4-27 off 31 overs, 18 of them maidens, to take his tally this season to 34.
The Saints finished sixth on the ladder and will play Prahran in the first week of the finals, the loser bowing out. They will be denied a home final because of the Grand Prix. But they will enjoy the return of their state players.
Coach Glenn Lalor said Crosthwaite played an exceptional hand.
“Leadership. Inspirational, yes. Experience, yes,’’ he said.
Lalor said he was proud of St Kilda’s effort to finish sixth given the club’s injury list and unavailabilities brought on by Shield, Big Bash and Under 19 World Cup selections.
Including the Super Slam, the Saints have used 30 players in the First XI this season.
Dandenong was ninth on the ladder, two points away from eighth-placed Essendon.
After the match Panthers coach Nick Speak announced he would be stepping down after four years.
The former Lancashire batsman’s stint took in the 2017-18 premierships, a White Ball title and last season’s Victorian Super Slam crown.