The Hawks were comfortably beaten by premier Dandenong at Shepley Oval on Saturday.

But despite their 47-run Duckworth-Lewis loss the Hawks showed much greater application in the field and more determination with the bat before rain brought their innings to a premature close after 28 overs. The Hawks were 3-91 before the rain set in.

The Panthers, who batted first, made 5-281 powered by Brett Forsyth (126 not out), who carried his bat.

Alleyne made a patient 41 before being trapped in front by Brent Fairbanks while Kumar Sarna (nine not out) and Craig Entwhistle (11 not out) were both well set.

Alleyne and the Hawks attempted to play on, despite needing over 110 off the 10 remaining overs under a revised total.

But the Shepley Oval square had taken too much water and the game was called off.

The Hawks captain said his side had shown great commitment but allowed the home side too many runs.

"Our opening bowlers were good but we didn't take enough early wickets," he said.

"We were well set, but you can't give up that many runs. I think we were on course to keep them to 230 in the early part of the innings.

"But you can't have your bowlers giving away front-foot no-balls at this level of cricket and that hurt us. The positive for us is that the players are buying into what we are doing and there is improvement there, although we have a long way to go."

The Hawks bowlers gave up 14 no balls; one of those no balls came from an errant 12th man who wondered into the square leg umpires eye line during a delivery.

Entwhistle was the best of the bowlers with 2-59 off 10 overs and rookie quick Alex Jones snared his first wicket.

The Hawks thirds had a morale-boosting win over Dandenong at Wilson Oval, claiming a rain-affected win.

The Hawks made 7-197 from 45 overs and then kept the Panthers to 9-103 from 37 overs.

The visitors could have wrapped up the match earlier in the Panthers innings after having the home side 9-47 before the last pair held out until the end.