Dandenong secures County paceman for Premier Cricket season

REIGNING premier Dandenong has secured a young English fast bowler for the Premier Cricket season.

Dandenong has replenished its bowling stocks by securing a young English paceman.

Jack Blatherwick, 20, has agreed to terms with the Panthers and is expected to arrive in Melbourne ahead of Round 4.

A right-armer, Blatherwick applied pen to paper on a professional deal with Nottinghamshire this week.

The former England Under 19 player achieved good results with the Notts County Second XI this year and made his List A debut against Warwickshire under the captaincy of former Dandenong all-rounder Steve Mullaney.

Panthers great Darren Pattinson is another connection to Nottinghamshire, having played much fine cricket with the county.

But the 39-year-old has picked up a side strain and will miss the early rounds of the Victorian Premier Cricket season, which starts tomorrow.

Injured: Dandenong great Darren Pattinson.

Dandenong has named James Pattinson for the match against Ringwood but he will play purely as a batsman. Pattinson is more likely to bowl in the Futures League match against South Australia that starts in Adelaide on Monday.

The Panthers’ bowling attack has been depleted over winter, with Adam McMaster dropping out of cricket, Jak Jowett transferring to Clayton Districts in Cricket Southern Bayside, Luke Gandy crossing to Frankston-Peninsula and Matt Wetering returning to his local club, Springvale South.

On top of that, premiership medium pacer Peter Cassidy is overseas and won’t play until after Christmas.

In the absence of Darren Pattinson, James Wilcock, returning to Premier Cricket after a stint at Berwick, will share the new ball with the emerging Jakeb Thomas against Ringwood.

James Nanopoulos and Dasun Opanayaka will provide the medium pace and Akshat Buch the spin.

In other Premier news, St Kilda has given debuts to Dan Meddings and Todd Murphy, in doing so extending its father-son club to 12.

Meddings, 24, the son of club vice-president Paul, played his first match for the Saints at the age of 12 (in the fourths) and has been at the club pretty much his whole life.

Saints coach Glenn Lalor said Meddings, a right-hand top-order batsman, had a run of big scores in the seconds last season and would have played in the firsts if not for an untimely suspension.

“That cost him his opportunity,’’ Lalor said.

“He plays footy at Caulfield Grammarians but he didn’t play this year. He wanted to have a crack (at cricket) instead of missing the pre-season and starting in the threes.’’

Murphy, a 19-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder, joined St Kilda this season.

In their 160 years the Saints have had only a dozen father-son combinations, but they include notable club names including Ironmonger, Blackie, Tamblyn, Ironmonger, Craig, Graf and Murch.