Premier Cricket: Tom Donnell hits his 12th century for Dandenong
Tom Donnell endured a difficult time ahead of the Premier Cricket season. He’s back to good health, and back in the runs.
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A quick raise of the bat, and that was it.
It you blinked you might have missed Tom Donnell acknowledging applause for his century.
The Dandenong captain achieved it with a sweetly-struck boundary against Monash Tigers at the Central Reserve bottom ground on Sunday.
It was his 12th ton for the Panthers in Premier Cricket. And there was emotion surrounding it, as was clear from the reaction of Mark Donnell, Tom’s father.
His eyes were watering, and it had nothing to do with the wind sweeping across the ground.
In September Donnell had a tumour removed from his groin area.
It was an anxious time for him as he fought to regain his health.
His treatment meant he’d had to stop playing football for Cheltenham, which made it through to the grand final of the Southern league Division 1 grand final. As Chelt chased their first top-grade premiership since 1934, stalwart player Donnell watched on from the boxes that overlook the Moorabbin ground, taking stats.
The illness also kept him out of Dandenong’s pre-season training and the first month of the season.
He returned to Dandenong’s team in Round 5, but runs hadn’t been coming for him.
They did on Sunday. The left-hander batted superbly as Dandenong chased down Monash’s 247, going off unbeaten with 141 not out, off 220 deliveries and with 16 fours and 1 six.
During the innings he passed 8000 runs in Premier Cricket and shared two century partnerships, first with Brett Forsyth (43), then No 3 Comrey Edgeworth (54no).
The openers put on 128, their 16th century stand for the first wicket, one of the most prolific pairings the competitions has seen.
Donnell and Edgeworth added an unbroken 121 as the Panthers replied with 1-249.
Donnell was 55 at lunch and 95 at tea. Once he reached his century he opened up and sped his side towards the target, victory coming at 4.30pm.
“I probably did need some runs, to be honest,’’ Donnell said this morning.
“It’s funny. On Saturday night I got home and I thought, ‘Shit, I could only have a couple of games left in me here’, sort of the way I was feeling and stuff like that.
“Spending all day in the field, the body feels it a little bit more than it used to. It’s just as much in the mind, wanting to be out there all day and back up the next day again and try to make some runs and get a win for the team. It does play on your mind but when you have a day like yesterday, you forget about those other thoughts.’’
Donnell touched on his illness as he discussed his century.
“Yeah, it was a little bit (emotional). While I was batting, physically I wasn’t feeling fresh. I kept thinking, ‘I might never get this many runs again, have to make the most of it’. Yeah, it was a bit, because I wasn’t sure how much cricket I was going to be able to play this season. I sort of don’t like to think about things too deeply, but, yeah, it felt good and it took a lot of hard work to get back to playing. I’d never really worked as hard as I had. So I suppose there was some reward for effort.’’
Donnell, 31, attended Dandenong’s pre-season trip to Brisbane in late August. But he was unable to bat in September and most of October. When he came back he flat was out running a lap of the ground.
“It did take a lot just to get moving again (after the surgery),’’ he said.
Donnell said he enjoyed his partnerships with Ryder Medal champion Forsyth and Edgeworth.
He said tall right-hander Edgeworth was “brilliant right from ball one’’.
“The first ball he faced hit the middle of the bat. He was great. He batted really, really well, calm and collected and knew what he was doing out there,’’ Donnell said.
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As for Forsyth: “It’s always easy going out there with him. I think I’ve said it before, when the opening bowlers see him hit the ball straight back to them with the forward defensive shot they must be like, ‘How are we going to get this guy out?’ It makes my job easier, that’s for sure.’’
A bit like the skipper, the Panthers are coming to the boil at the right time.
Having spent most of the season in the lower half of the ladder, they’re making a late dash for the top eight.
Their next two matches bring strong opposition, first Melbourne (sixth) at Shepley Oval, then St Kilda (seventh) at the Junction Oval.
Test man James Pattinson should be available to play against the Dees this Saturday, and hopefully he’ll be in better health than he was on the first day of the match against Monash.
Pattinson took ill on Friday but insisted on playing. In between coming on and off the ground he bowled 18 overs on a slow pitch.