Premier Cricket: Dandenong champion James Nanopoulos on the move

Dandenong’s champion all-rounder leaves the club with three premierships, a record 362 wickets and more than 4000 runs.

James Nanopoulos had some spectacular returns for Dandenong. Picture: Valeriu Campan

James Nanopoulos has done it to a lot of batsmen over the years.

Now he has dismissed himself at Dandenong.

The Panthers’ leading wicket-taker in Victorian Premier Cricket has joined the growing list of players leaving the club.

Coming off a 37-wicket, team-of-the-year season, the 236-game stalwart has accepted a three-year deal from rival Frankston Peninsula.

There had been talk about the Heat approach pretty much since the grand final against Prahran.

James Nanopoulos took a club-record 362 wickets for Dandenong. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Dandenong president Gary Davidson confirmed the news this morning.

The club had already farewelled LJ Edwards (Elsternwick in Subbies), Peter Cassidy (Brighton in Subbies) and Suraj Randiv (Edinburgh in the Eastern Cricket Association), and will almost certainly lose wicketkeeper Jacques Augustin.

Meanwhile captain Tom Donnell is undecided about playing on.

Nanopoulos, 32, said it was difficult to leave Dandenong but the offer from Frankston Peninsula was too good to turn down.

He said it also presented a good challenge.

“Hopefully we can get some success … it’s been a while since they (Frankston Peninsula) have played finals,’’ Nanopoulos said.

“Hopefully we can get a couple of experienced blokes in to push the young kids along and start something new.’’

Nanopoulos will play at Frankston Peninsula under the coaching of his Dandenong premiership teammate Paul Boraston.

“I’ve known him since I first came down to Dandenong. We’ve had a great relationship for the last 15 years,’’ he said of Boraston.

“He’s one of my good mates and he obviously knows my game pretty well and he saw that what I can bring to the table can help out.’’

He said the Heat also approached him last year but he decided to stay with the Panthers.

Nanopoulos started at Dandenong as a batting prospect and made his First XI debut in 2005-06.

A year later he opened the batting in the team that defeated St Kilda in the grand final. It was the first of his three premierships as a Panther.

Gradually his bowling came into play, and in recent seasons his right-arm medium pace has brought him bundles of wickets and some spectacular bags.

In 2019-20 he grabbed 7-43 against Geelong, only to top it a few rounds later with 9-26 off 15.5 overs against Greenvale Kangaroos. He finished with 11 wickets for the match and 46 for the season.

In Round 4 of last season Nanopoulos swept through Kingston Hawthorn’s batting, capturing 8-16 off his 10 overs, including a hat-trick. At one stage he had 6-0.

His figures against Melbourne in the quarter-final were stunning too: 3-7 off 10, with eight maidens.

Demons coach Ben Vague later came out and called him the best player in the competition.

Since 2010-11 his wicket aggregates have been 23, 31, 35, 11, 23, 19, 30, 40, 33, 46 and 33. All told he took 362 wickets, with six “five fors’’.

Nanopoulos’s batting brought him 4264 runs, with one century, 140 against Casey South Melbourne.

It’s a good number but he’s the first to admit he’s left quite a few in the middle. A couple of years ago he put it down to “a few brain explosions and (poor) shot selection’’.

“When I was younger — and this doesn’t sound great — I was happy with 30s and that,’’ he said.

“When you get a bit older you start to realise 30s don’t really cut it.’’

James Nanopoulos batting for Dandenong last season.

Davidson said Nanopoulos had given Dandenong superb service.

“Great player and of course we wanted him to stay,’’ he said.

“But at the end of the day you can’t compete with the offer he got (from Frankston Peninsula), and he doesn’t owe Dandenong anything.

“He’s been a mighty contributor to our success and we wish him all the very best.’’

Nanopoulos said he was proud of what he achieved with the Panthers.

“It’s been amazing,’’ he said. “The people there have been so good to me from the moment I walked in, to now. To make lifelong friends with Tommy, Brett (Forsyth), ‘Bora’ (Boraston), ‘Ayresy’ (coach Warren Ayres), Darren (Pattinson), Jimmy (James Pattinson), it’s been unbelievable.

“I rang ‘Ayresy’ last night and I was actually nervous. But every person I’ve rang has been fantastic about it.’’