Swans unruffled by lowly Kangaroos

By Justin Robertson
CASEY-South Melbourne continued its dominant form with a comfortable five-wicket win against a lowly placed North Melbourne at the Junction Oval on Saturday, thanks to some brilliant opening bowling by skipper Jayde Herrick and a cracking innings from Englishman Peter Trego.
Herrick did the damage with the ball early (3/42) and the Roos were in trouble at 5/41. They never recovered and although Carl Sandri made a stubborn 67 not out to help take their score to 149, it was never enough. Trego came in and blasted a stunning 92 (from 88 balls) as the Swans reached the target with 14 overs to spare.
Trego said winning the toss definitely helped their chances of a strong win against the Roos.
“On a day like that, with there being weather about, we felt the surface may have some moisture underneath,” he said. “Our bowlers bowled absolutely superbly – Jayde especially. His opening spell was fierce. We got off to a good start and were in a strong position from there on in.”
The Swans slide into third position on the Premier Cricket ladder and have now won seven from their past eight games which includes confidence boosting wins over first-placed Carlton and second-placed Geelong.
“We are a pretty motivated unit, so we want to finish in the top four, if not the very top spot,” Trego said. “With potential weather around there is an advantage being top four, but we know the work is not done at this stage, so we are pretty keen to keep up the good performances so we can take some momentum into finals.”
The Somerset County cricketer has been honing his short game with two-hour stints after training on the ball machine for the past few weeks and he said it’s starting to pay off.
“I’m very happy with where I’m at the moment and seeing it well,” he said. “ I don’t really want to tempt fate right now, but my captain at Somerset, Justin Langer, always said never mess with form – but it seems to be working.”
In the run home the Swans play Essendon and Ringwood and going by recent form, wins are likely in both matches.
“It’s at that stage where we’ve done well to get to third and now it’s all about the mental side of the game, to keep it going for finals,” he said. “We are all playing very well, it’s just a case of not taking the foot off the gas and keep plugging away and being professional.”