Premier Cricket: Dandenong Cricket Club duo James Pattinson and Emma Gallagher get ‘life’

Dandenong Panthers have accorded life membership to Emma Gallagher and James Pattinson. “Seventeen Tests between us!’’ Gallagher said.

EMMA “Gags’’ Gallagher reckons Dandenong had her in from the start.

In her first season at the cricket club she was sitting in the rooms after a committee meeting when someone mentioned it had secured a grant for a sports administrator.

But who could do it?

“Everyone looked at me and said, ‘You can do it’,’’ Gallagher recalled with a laugh.

“I said I’d only been there about a month but they all said, ‘Nah, you’ve been here longer than that’. So I got that gig and never really looked back. They got me early. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.’’

They got her again on Tuesday night at the Dandenong AGM.

Gallagher misses little in cricket, but she was caught by surprise when she was made a life member of the Panthers.

It recognised her service as secretary, president and opening bowler for the Dandenong Women’s Cricket Club, as well as her role in its amalgamation with Dandenong Cricket Club two years ago (she’s now on the general committee).

Cricket is work and play for her: she’s on Cricket Victoria’s payroll as club officer in the south-east bayside region.

Gallagher, from Swifts Creek in east Gippsland, caught the cricket bug years ago when former Gippsland region cricket manager Rob Wood dropped in to her school for a clinic.

Her family was encouraging when she joined Bruthen Cricket Club (also the home of leading women’s player Kelly Applebee), with her father giving up tennis to ferry her to matches.

The club urged her along; the boys she was playing with voted her captain two seasons in a row.

At one stage she was playing on Friday nights, Saturdays mornings and every second Sunday.

Emma “Gags’’ Gallagher bowling for Dandenong.

Gallagher looks back and considers herself lucky to have had so much encouragement as a female junior player.

“I was so fortunate to land at Bruthen,’’ she said.

She joined Dandenong when she came to town for university studies, and some familiar Gippsland faces at the club put her at ease.

After a year in the seconds she went into Dandy’s First XI and figured in the 2012-13 premiership, taking 3-30 off 10 overs in the grand final against Box Hill. The great Meg Lanning was among her victims.

Last season she captained Dandy to the Twenty20 title, leading a team with a group of young players she’s always been quick to champion.

Her passion for the development of female cricket runs deep.

“We’ve still got a long way to go. But I was at the All Girls Cricket Competition on Saturday for a planning day, and to be there and see the clubs promoting it like they were was terrific,’’ Gallagher said.

“It’s now ingrained at clubs. So often you see competitions come and go because there has been one person driving them. Now it’s part of the regular program.’’

She said of her work: “I guess I’ve seen the opportunities it’s given me and I want to make sure they’re available to others. I think it’s such a great game for bringing people together and the values it promotes.’’

James Pattinson letting fly for Dandenong.

The Panthers also gave life membership to fast bowler James Pattinson, who is in the UK playing County cricket.

Pattinson’s loyalty to Dandenong is legendary; he never misses the chance to turn out for the club, and when he’s away playing big cricket he eagerly follows the results.

He made his First XI debut in 2006-07 in a team that included his brother, Darren, also a Dandy life member. He dismissed former Victorian player Clinton Peake on his way to figures of 1-24 off seven overs.

“Seventeen Tests between us!’’ Gallagher said of the two new life members.