Peter Siddle says it ‘means the world’ to play in his third premiership for Dandenong

DANDENONG pacemen Peter Siddle and Darren Pattinson combine for 14 wickets as the Panthers defeat a plucky Fitzroy-Doncaster in the Victorian Premier Cricket grand final.

Dandenong shows off the Premier Cricketr pennant.

PREMIER Cricket batsmen see little of Peter Siddle.

Some of them would say that’s no bad thing.

In the grand final completed today at the Junction Oval, the right-arm paceman made only his ninth appearance for Dandenong since the 2007-08 season.

It was a killer cameo — 6-45 off 16 overs in the first innings and two more wickets in the second dig. It was a reminder of why years ago he was dubbed “The Dandenong Demon’’.

RELATED: Dandenong finishes off Fitzroy-Doncaster

And it was rewarded with the John Scholes Medal as player of the match as the Panthers swept to their third premiership in 11 years.

The victory made for a season-double for Dandy, who also claimed the White-Ball crown after crashing through Carlton.

Siddle, preparing for a County stint with Essex, didn’t play in the quarter or semi-finals but declared his availability for the grand final early in the week and trained last Tuesday night.

Fitzroy-Doncaster had figured on having its own Test player, Glenn Maxwell, but events in South Africa put him on a plane for Johannesburg.

The Lions, sent in on a pitch with “ a bit in it’’, could have done with Maxwell as Siddle splintered their top-order, scalping Jack Rudd (2), Nat Vardi (4) and Matthew Frith (14) in the crucial first hour of the match.

“Means the world to me, to come back to the club I’ve been involved with since I was 15, when I first came down to Melbourne,’’ Siddle said in the rooms after the grand final.

“To be able to play with the boys and be a part of the club’s third premiership, that’s amazing. I know I’ve only played this one game but I know how hard the boys have worked this season and even in the last few seasons. They’re a tremendous side, it’s a tremendous club, and it’s great to be here.’’

Dandenong pace pair Darren Pattinson and Peter Siddle after they finished off Fitzroy-Doncaster in the second innings.

Siddle said coach Nick Speak sent him a message last Monday asking if he was available for the decider.

“I leave in a week to play County Cricket and I needed to bowl, had to get back into training,’’ he said. “No better way to do it than in a match situation and for Dandenong.’’

While some people questioned if Siddle should line up in the grand final after playing no club games during the season, Fitzroy-Doncaster had no problem with it.

Lions captain Peter Dickson said that for many of his players it would count as a career highlight to have faced such a high-class bowler in a grand final.

Dickson apparently told District/Premier Cricket great Brendan “Bushy’’ McArdle that the few overs he negotiated from Siddle on Saturday made for the best spell he’d encountered in 10 years.

“To be honest, Peter showed on Saturday how much of a difference there is between the bowlers at state cricket and the next bowlers coming through,’’ McArdle said.

“I’m probably speaking a bit out of school but I don’t think the boys below are quite ready yet. Peter showed what they’ve got to aspire to get to that next level.’’

McArdle said Siddle’s innings of 24 not out shouldn’t be forgotten either.

It was the Test paceman’s third premiership for Dandenong, as it was for Darren Pattinson, captain Tom Donnell and vice-captain James Nanopoulos.

Jak Jowett.

WHAT’S a grand final story without a hardluck thread?

When Siddle said he could play, a bowler had to fall out of the Dandenong line-up.

St Kilda recruit Jak Jowett, who had taken 31 wickets with his left-arm pace this season, was the unlucky player.

He was desperately disappointed, but he supported his teammates over the three days and accepted sympathies with a smile.

“Yeah, it’s hard, it’s tough, someone having to miss out,’’ Siddle said.

“Jak is a tremendous young player, as his figures show. He’s going to be a big part of the club for years to come. It’s obviously disappointing for him, but he’s been great around the group in the last couple of days.’’

The premiership cup finds a happy home on the head of Darren Pattinson.

AT age 38 Darren Pattinson made a return to Premier Cricket this season.

Amid the celebrations that started at 11.30am today, the former international admitted he was unsure if he could still play at the level after a four-year absence.

He finished the season with 37 wickets, 14 of them in finals.

His burst of 6-13 against Carlton last week propelled the Panthers into the grand final, and his four Lions wickets this morning crushed any prospect of the titleholder raising enough runs to put Dandenong’s batsmen under pressure.

He and his old pal Siddle scalped 14 Lions in the match.

“Before the season I wasn’t sure how it would work out,’’ Pattinson said, cradling a cold beer.

“I just wanted to play with my mates at a great club. But I didn’t know if I’d be good enough to play First XI cricket. Hadn’t played for a fair while. But once I knew I was good enough, I had to keep ticking over. I knew we had a good group of players and we could win finals. I believed we could win every game and I believed we could win the flag. I don’t play cricket to come second.’’

Pattinson blinked back tears as he added: “Great feeling. I love this club so much.’’

WHAT do they say about catches? Of course they win matches. Panther Cameron Forsyth took five in the grand final, and two of them were stunning snaffles.

Early on day one he sprang high from his heels to pluck a one-hander at short-leg to remove Matt Frith.

“’Sidds’ (Siddle) had been dropping them in short and he (Frith) had been trying to turn them off his hip,’’ Forsyth said.

“The ball kind of rose and I rose with it. Lucky enough I stuck my hand up at the right time and it went in.’’

In the second session Trent Lawford, always eager to give the ball a biff, hit out at Peter Cassidy’s medium pace.

He got no great piece of it and the ball flew high over mid-off. Forsyth sprinted back, then dived to take it at full stretch. Fortunately ace Cricket Victoria camera-slinger Arj Giese captured the spectacular effort.

“He (Lawford) kind of sliced it inside out and it kept getting further and further away from me but I got there in the end and it stuck as well. I was pretty surprised,’’ Forsyth said.

He had the pleasure of not only playing in his first Dandenong premiership team, but counting his brother Brett as a teammate.

Brett missed out in the grand final but he ended the season with 825 runs (and presumably team-of-the-year honours). His opening partner and captain Donnell came in with 752. While we’re on numbers, Nanopoulos harvested 40 wickets with his medium pace and will also give the team of the year a shake.

Cam Forsyth takes an outstanding catch in the outfield. And gun Cricket Victoria photographer Arj Giese takes an outstanding shot of the catch.

THREE players from other Premier clubs featured in the Dandenong victory.

All joined the Panthers in search of more senior opportunities. Afforded them, they have entrenched themselves as First XI cricketers.

Wicketkeeper Jacques Augustin transferred from Fitzroy-Doncaster last season after being a “sentimental’’ selection as the Lions’ 12th man in the 2015-16 premiership. Young Liam Banthorpe had overtaken him at the Lions and he sensed an opening with the Panthers.

The grand final brought him up against his former club, and he snaffled two catches and contributed a vital 29 with the bat.

“Came here for a second wind, and I’ve got it,’’ the 28-year-old said.

At the after-match presentation, Lions captain Peter Dickson made a point of singling out Augustin, saying he deserved his premiership success.

“Yeah, tough weekend to play against the old club,’’ Augustin responded.

“Weird feeling really. ‘Dicko’, I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s one of my best mates.’’

Peter Cassidy joined Dandenong as a Third XI player from Prahran. Three years later he’s one of Premier Cricket’s most accurate medium pacers, dealing in dot-balls and maidens.

His ability to “dry up’’ an end came to the fore in the final session of the second day as he sent down 12 consecutive overs to put the brakes on Fitzroy-Doncaster when it needed to accelerate.

“Just knowing my role, working with ‘Nano’ (James Nanopoulos), understanding the state of the game,’’ Cassidy said when asked about his emergence. He finished the season with 34 wickets at 15.7.

“I’ve learnt when I have to hold, when I have to attack. If we need to build pressure I’ll do it. I’ll do what I’m asked to do.’’

In 2016-17 Lincoln “LJ’’ Edwards joined Dandy from Melbourne, where he was regarded as a talented player. But he was unable to nail down a regular position in a powerful batting division.

The stylish right-hander made 543 runs last season and 541 this season, including half-centuries in both his finals hands. In fact, without his defiant 67 not out in the quarterfinal against St Kilda the Panthers’ season would have ended not in celebration, but devastation.

“I look at it now and I’m pretty proud of that innings but at the time I was just thinking about what I needed to do for the team to get through,’’ Edwards said.

Dandenong wicketkeeper Jacques Augustin.

AKSHAT Buch had a first season to savour in Premier Cricket.

Recruited from Sub-District club Yarraville, the left-arm spinner with the luxuriant beard played every match in Dandy’s First XI and finished with 27 wickets.

The Panthers did not need him to bowl in Fitzroy-Doncaster’s first innings but he returned 2-34 off 13 overs in the second, striking twice in one over. He’s a rising player. Ditto for batsman Ed Newman, who, like Edwards, batted well in the finals.

The left-hander is highly regarded by the Victorian coaches and it will be no surprise if he’s added to the Bushrangers books in the next few months.

FITZROY-DONCASTER captain Peter Dickson is class, on and off the field.

The champion batsman has made speeches after the past three grand finals and in success and defeat he’s been humble and gracious. Dandenong, he said, were “outstanding over the three days and you thoroughly deserve to be premiers’’.

“You won the key moments of the game and that was probably the difference,’’ he said.

“Enjoy the celebrations. You’re a fantastic group of people, a fantastic coach, and you’ve got an outstanding young leader in Tommy (Donnell). And I’m sure you’ve got a lot of great years to come.’’

Lloyd Mash batting in the grand final. He’s retired after an outstanding career.

SOON after in the rooms Dickson confirmed the departure of two top Lions. Matt Frith, who looked as good as any batsman in the match, is relocating to South Australia.

And stalwart left-hander Lloyd Mash is retiring after a splendid career that took in 27 first-class matches (he and Siddle both made their debuts for the Vics in 2005-06 against the West Indies).

Mash played 236 matches for the Lions, hitting 10 centuries and scoring almost 7500 runs. “He and Garry Watts will probably go down as Fitzroy-Doncaster’s greatest players, I would have thought,’’ Dickson said.

“When you combine state cricket, premierships, captain-coach, he’s pretty much achieved everything. He’s been playing at the club since he was 14. And now he’s 37. Amazing career.’’

DANDENONG’S 2017-18 PREMIERSHIP TEAM

Tom Donnell (c), Brett Forsyth, Cameron Forsyth, Edward Newman, Lincoln “LJ’’ Edwards, James Nanopoulos, Jacques Augustin, Peter Siddle, Peter Cassidy, Darren Pattinson, Akshat Buch, Jak Jowett..