Butters keeps churning out runs
THERE were shades of last season’s semi-final between Geelong and Dandenong in the rematch between the two sides at Shepley Oval on Saturday.
The scorecards bore a resemblance but the Cats turned the Panthers over with a 24-run win, headlined by Hayden Butterworth’s 85 and a disciplined bowling performance led by Daanish Mehta’s 3-42.
Butterworth was on his way to a third century in four games but fatigue caught up with him 15 runs short of another triple-figure score.
Mehta broke an ominous eighth-wicket stand between Gehan Seneviratne and Braden Taeuber to claim his third wicket, cutting the partnership off at 64 to end the slim hopes Dandenong held of running down Geelong’s 245.
Cats coach Nick Speak said he only briefly had flashbacks to last season’s finals series when Dandenong pulled off an unlikely victory to advance to the grand final.
“There was a point there for two or three overs in that partnership with Seneviratne and Taeuber,” Speak said.
“It was a short boundary on one side – on the far side – of the ground. You bowl the wrong line and you go over the fence three of four times.
“Things can turn quick but it didn’t get to that at all.”
Jack Riding accelerated the scoring with a 58-ball 52 in an 84-run partnership with Butterworth to set the hosts a challenging total.
Speak said Butterworth’s recent returns of 68, 104, 107 and 85 had compensated for the departure of former captain Eamonn Vines.
“The rate that Jack scored at allowed Butterworth the opportunity to just bat through,” he said.
“He still took his shots on when they were there, but fatigue got him a little bit.
“It was really, really hot, still – no wind – and the outfield it was very slow for a Shepley outfield, so he had to do a lot of running.
“He’s in really good form.” Paceman Dom McGlinchey (2-38 off 10) continued his good form by removing champion openers Brett Forsyth (19) and Tom Donnell (5) as Dandenong collapsed to 7-125.
The Seneviratne-Taeuber partnership provided a momentary scare until the Panthers were bowled out for 221 in the 50th over.
It gave Geelong consecutive wins for the first time this season to move it within a point of the top eight ahead of a home game against Fitzroy Doncaster (10th) next weekend.
Speak said the Cats were “building” following a missed opportunity against St Kilda a fortnight ago.
“Our energy has been up since that game,” he said.
“We played really well for 80 per cent of that game against St Kilda.
“We should have won that game when you look at the break down of it and the side that they had in.
“We’re going all right.”