Premier Cricket 2019-20: Englishman Tom Loten leads Prahran to win over Essendon
Prahran put a patchy run of form before Christmas behind it with a vital one-day win over Essendon, with an overseas recruit playing a starring role in what could be a sign of things to come.
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Prahran skipper Jake Hancock has heaped praise on Tom Loten after the Englishman delivered a standout performance in his team’s vital Premier Cricket victory over Essendon on Saturday.
The 21-year-old, who is in his first summer at the True Blues, produced season-best returns with bat and ball in the visiting side’s 44-run win at Windy Hill.
Loten hammered an unbeaten 58 from 70 balls in a knock which featured five boundaries after Prahran’s top-order struggled, lifting it to 7-240.
His medium-pace bowling then proved hugely effective as he collected 3-28 from nine overs, including the key scalp of star Bomber James Seymour.
Hancock said Loten, who has made one appearance for Yorkshire’s Second XI in England, would be a vital player for the ninth-ranked True Blues in the run home as they chase their first finals appearance since 2015-16.
“You can see what a talent he is,” Hancock said.
“He’s been able to contribute in small ways with bat, ball and in the field, but it was obviously a fantastic weekend for him to put all three of those skills together and be a huge contributor to us winning the game.
“Players that can impact the game with all three are so hard to come by.
“His bowling’s improved from the moment he stepped off the plane.
“I’m very excited to see what he has in store for the rest of the season because there’s a big chunk of the season left and we’ve got high aspirations.”
Hancock said he was “nervous” after Prahran slipped to 6-108.
But Loten and reliable veteran Steve Seymour (42) combined for an 88-run stand for the seventh-wicket before Matt Wilcox (22 not out) helped boost the total.
Essendon looked on track to take the points at 3-163, but they then lost 7-33, with paceman Wilcox (3-39 from nine overs) backing up his efforts with the bat.
The True Blues lost three of their last four games before the Christmas break but remain in the finals hunt.
“Hopefully it’s a real turning point,” Hancock said of the win over the Bombers, who progressed to a preliminary final in 2018-19.
“We obviously had a really good start to the year, but then before Christmas we had a few poor weeks.
“Getting sent in when conditions favoured bowling first, we were able to counter the conditions and put on a good total before defending it.
“The boys will be feeling really confident that, even when the conditions weren’t suiting us, we were able to come out with a win.
“With the rain we had on Friday night, you could tell it was going to be tough to bat on for the first 25 overs, but also just the nature of the first game back after Christmas, it was also going to be difficult to score in the last 25 when the wicket and ground started to deteriorate a little bit.
“I was thinking if we could just stay in the contest and create and generate a little bit of pressure, then we’d be able to get a couple of breakthroughs.”
In further good news, star fast bowler Andrew Perrin is set to return for this week’s one-day fixture against Greenvale Kangaroos, having not played since December 7 because of a knee issue.
Hancock said Perrin, who has 14 wickets at 19.9 apiece since crossing from Fitzroy Doncaster, had battled the injury for about 10 weeks.
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“He’s been able to get that under control and I think he had a cortisone injection last week,” he said.
“He’s definitely been biting down hard through the pain.
“He’s been enjoying his time at Prahran. He’s been disappointed he’s had to deal with different injuries to what he has in the past … I guess it’s been a bit of a learning experience for him to deal with a knee issue and what he needs to do to rehab.”