Farzan Chowna, Tom O’Donnell score maiden fifties in Essendon victory
James Seymour and Cam McClure ran riot while Farzan Chowna and Tom O’Donnell celebrated special milestones in Essendon’s win over Footscray.
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Essendon sent a reminder of its potential on Saturday with a crushing 72-run win over Footscray.
Maiden First XI half-centuries to Farzan Chowna and Tom O’Donnell and rampaging performances from state pair James Seymour and Cam McClure sealed the Bombers’ second straight Premier Cricket win.
Seymour had a Midas touch at Merv Hughes Oval, top-scoring with 80 from 114 balls and after being dismissed promoting O’Donnell up the order.
The Essendon skipper shared a 79-run stand with Chowna (58 not out) before the young gun combined with O’Donnell (51 not out) to lift their team to 3-257.
It was Chowna’s first 50 in just his fourth senior game, while it’s been a longer wait for O’Donnell with 49 First XI matches under his belt.
Coach Ash Cavigan was rapt for the pair.
“We’ve got a belief in Faz, we believe he’s going to be a long-term for us, works really hard and is super competitive,” he said.
“That will give him a nice little shot of belief and confidence that you need when you’re starting out and it was good for him to bat with James for a long period.
“Jim made the call (to promote O’Donnell) and it was nearly a match-definitely move.
“We tried it the game before and it didn’t work, Tom can strike the ball really well, but it worked beautifully (on Saturday).
“It was one of those days, everything worked well.”
Footscray coach Allan Wise lamented his side giving an opponent another a 250-run first innings and it proved a mountain too tall.
Dylan Brasher fell in the first over of the chase, caught by Liam Bowe on the boundary off McClure.
The Bombers paceman then removed Dan Sartori and Dean Russ in quick succession to have the Dogs in trouble at 3-28.
Travis Dean (58) and Dylan Kight (60) rebuilt the innings but when Bowe trapped the Dogs skipper lbw and McClure returned to dismiss Kight it all unravelled.
McClure has impressed since the Christmas break and has 6-33 in his past two matches.
Cavigan said the young gun is fully fit and reaping the rewards.
“Cam had three weeks where he had a little bit of treatment on his ankle, then he got COVID and then he went into the Hurricanes BBL bubble, so he had several weeks of where he couldn’t do anything,” Cavigan said.
“Fortunately for us, and him too I think, they said don’t worry about the Second XI stuff play Premier Cricket, bowl 10 overs and get your training loads up.
“He’s been good since his ankle injury, having the Christmas break has definitely helped, and his last three weeks have been really good.”
Liam Molloy finished with 3-26 and Liam Bowe 2-41 as the Dogs were all out 185.
Bowe is the equal top wicket-taker in Premier Cricket with 22 scalps at an average of 19.50, while Molloy is Essendon’s next best at 38th with 11 wickets.
The victory is the Bombers’ third win in four matches and has it back in Premier Cricket finals contention after starting the season 1-5.
Cavigan said some simple continuity was working wonders.
“I think having Cam and James back for two or three games in a row gives the team some continuity,” he said.
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“We’ve got our batting game going, which is terrific, the guys have been working really hard on that.
“I think most times we’ve batted first we’ve put up a total and defended it, all our wins have come batting first, so it wasn’t so bad when Footscray won the toss and put us in.
“We had a little bit of luck, we were on the right side of a couple of things – the boys thought Trav Dean was pretty stiff – but it all evens out.”
Essendon hosts Fitzroy Doncaster at Windy Hill on Saturday and a win would take them ahead of the 10th-placed Lions.
HILL SHOWS CLASS, WINDY HILL CURATORS WORK MAGIC
Windy Hill’s curators and Michael Hill worked their magic to deliver Essendon a 20-run win over Frankston Peninsula on Saturday.
Hill wound back the clock with an impressive 81 not out, his third half century and highest score of the Premier Cricket season.
The former Bombers captain’s knock included four boundaries and half a dozen sixes in a 55-ball stay and takes him to within 60 runs of 3000 for the club.
Coach Ash Cavigan said it was exactly the type of innings the team had been searching for.
“It was good for Hilly to get some runs but more importantly he batted through to over 30, which is something we’ve been looking for from a top-four, top-five batter,” Cavigan said.
“He was able to be there in the end and made sure we ended up with a good score and to be honest we probably needed every bit of it too.
“I think he needed them as much as we did.
“You always need a performance like that to give you a nice little dose of self confidence.”
A 48-run opening stand between skipper James Seymour (13) and Isaac Willett (32) got the home team off to a strong start.
Hill then combined for 47-run and 50-run partnerships with Liam Molloy (27) and Ryan Stingel (11) respectively as Essendon reached 7-182 from its 30 overs.
The match was delayed until 2pm and might not have started at all if not for the curators’ hard work.
Two Premier Cricket matches were abandoned after intense rain in the preceding few days and the surrounding Victorian Turf Cricket Association called off completely.
Cavigan paid tribute to Adam Thorne and his team.
“We’ve got Adam Thorne up there, he’s an absolute star,” he said.
“That’s the second time this year he and his team have been able to do and we’ve actually won both those games, so he’s our 13th man.
“Both grounds too, he got Cross Keys up as well, and he’s flat out with four Premier teams, Dowling, the women’s program – he’s doing a mighty job and we’re lucky to have him.
“At 2pm we got underway, the umps were terrific and both captains – everyone wanted to play.”
In his second game back, Cam McClure then removed both Frankston Peninsula openers to have the visitors in early trouble.
Seymour (1-10) dismissed Heat counterpart and top-scorer James Nanopoulos (35) and Liam Bowe cleaned up the tail to finish with 3-35.
The haul takes Bowe to 20 scalps for the season and he sits equal second on the Premier Cricket wicket-takers charts.
Essendon has lacked First XI consistency this season with Seymour, McClure and Tom O’Donnell in and out of the team.
Cavigan said the win was a sign of what his team was capable of.
“In a constantly changing team, Jim (Seymour) and (Cam) McClure back is really good but no doubt that will change soon,” he said.
“The boys have been really good with that, they’ve taken it in their stride, because it’s not often we’ve been able to put out our strongest side this year.
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“Musa Hussain has been excellent and probably a little unlucky on balance … and James Ryan are in our best 13 or 14.
“It’s always good to have runs on the board then we started well with the ball, from there you’ve got control of the game to a certain extent.”
The win lifts the Bombers to 15th but only a bonus-point win behind Casey-South Melbourne in ninth.
Essendon faces neighbouring rival Footscray on Saturday at Merv Hughes Oval, the Dogs coming off a wash out against Melbourne University.
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