By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong is the toast of the Women’s Premier Cricket T20 competition despite playing a draw in a rain-affected final against Box Hill on Thursday night.
With the second innings abandoned due to rain at Ringwood’s Jubilee Park, Dandenong was crowned champions due to finishing the home-and-away rounds on top of the table.
With former Australian captain and all-time great of the women’s game, Meg Lanning, in the Box Hill side, the Panthers dodged a bullet in not having to defend their score of 7/106.
Victorian representative Nicole Faltum showed her class for Dandenong by top-scoring with 44 off 33 deliveries in her first innings of the competition, on an evening in which her teammates failed to find a foothold.
Jessica Bohn’s 16 from 15 was the next best score, thanks to a tight bowling effort from Box Hill.
Conditions were revised and the match was reduced to a 10-over contest, with Box Hill set 62 to win as covers came off, and players warmed-up.
But on the brink of a return to play just after 9pm, the rain returned and the covers came back on.
With the rain persisting, the call to abandon the second innings was made, handing Dandenong the premiership.
Dandenong finished at the top of the table after nine rounds, tied for points with Box Hill but possessing a slender advantage in net run rate.
The Panthers lost just two matches in the campaign but one came against Box Hill in strikingly similar circumstances, with the Mustangs chasing Dandenong’s target of 7/105 comfortably.
Ishita Tiwari finished the competition as Dandenong’s leading run scorer with 129, while Jessica Matin topped the leading wicket-taker’s list with eight.
