Swans hopeful

By Marc McGowan
CASEY-SOUTH Melbourne’s high-profile summer recruits will be on display when the Victorian Premier Cricket season begins on Saturday.
Mark Ridgway will also make his Swans’ head coaching debut after replacing former mentor John Hayes in April.
Ridgway’s appointment sparked a recruiting frenzy, with Victorian Bushranger Damien Wright (Tasmania), all-rounder Jayde Herrick, top-order bladesman Rhys Holdsworth (both St Kilda), seamer Ash Perera (Canberra) and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Hussey (Dandenong) signing up.
English run-machine Chris Benham has crossed to Hawthorn-Monash University, while right-arm quick Lukas Hoogenboom is involved in a tug-of-war between the Swans and the Hawks. Cricket Victoria officials refused Hoogenboom a clearance to Hawthorn-Monash University on Monday night and Ridgway has no intention of giving him up.
The Hawks are appealing the decision and Hoogenboom will not play for Casey-South Melbourne on Saturday.
Craig Entwistle has taken over the captaincy from Michael Hansen, who will still play this season. Hussey will be the club’s top wicketkeeper, leaving Robbie Elston and Max Wakefield to earn a spot in the first XI through their batting prowess alone.
Australian under-19 left-arm orthodox spinner Clive Rose is set for another huge season, while Reuben Wakefield and Tim Dale will provide help with both bat and ball.
The Swans’ bowling will be a major strength, with Wright, Herrick, Perera, Rose and hopefully Hoogenboom forming a lethal attack.
Veteran paceman Matthew Hawking will also be in contention for a first XI spot when he returns from his honeymoon and leg-spinner Aaron Daniel has also impressed.
Ridgway is not making any bold statements on where Casey-South Melbourne will finish, but is promising major improvement.
“In a perfect world I’d love to make the finals, but the club won three games last season so if we can win eight this year we’re a long way ahead of where we were,” he said. “There is some real depth in the club and there will be a lot of guys that played in the higher grades last year that will be disappointed this week in regards to selection.”
Ridgway has implemented a more professional approach at the club and feels the players have embraced his philosophy.
“We had 53 at training last night (Tuesday) and we have five or six fielding groups at a time and others doing sit-up circuits – no-one stands still anymore,” he said. “The whole club has morphed into something I’m pretty pleased with at the moment and we’re just waiting for Saturday to see what comes of it.”
The Swans face Geelong, Northcote, Ringwood and Melbourne in the opening month.
“We’ve got four fairly tough games in the first four rounds and if we could win two of those four games we’ll be going okay,” he said.
“We’ll reassess where we are after four games and we’ll just take it one week at a time.”
Casey-South Melbourne locks horns with Geelong in a one-dayer at Geelong Cricket Ground on Saturday from 11am.