By Tyler Lewis
Three cheers for three decades of cricket.
The Dandenong Cricket Club celebrated its 30-year reunion on Saturday night along with its annual Pink Stumps Day fundraiser.
The Panthers’ committee decorated its upstairs rooms with statistics of past champions of the competition, while ex-AFL high flyer Russell Robertson was the master of ceremonies on a big night for the club.
Over the years the club has had many champions of not only Victorian Premier Cricket, but the international stage also.
As some Panthers drowned their sorrows after missing the finals, some celebrated the weeks ahead and others celebrated the successful tenure of the club so far – the Panthers had their hopes still set on a fellow champion in Sophie Molineux in the following day’s women’s Twenty20 World Cup final.
The day began with the celebrations of the McGrath Foundation, and while the Panthers would have liked to don the pink threads throughout the day, their opponent in St Kilda wouldn’t have appreciated the red ball coming from a pink outfit.
Over their 30 years, the Panthers’ men’s and women’s sides have brought in an abundance of silverware, proving Victorian Premier is not just an inner-city competition.
One of the Panthers’ biggest achievements is the unity they have created between the female and male sides on and off the field – forming as one club that supports each other, and hinting the next three decades might be just as successful as the first.
