By Marcus Uhe and Jonty Ralphsmith
A tight bowling effort from Casey-South Melbourne has the Swans in a solid position at stumps on day one of its Premier Cricket Victoria contest against Ringwood at home.
Winning the toss and opting to bowl, Casey-South Melbourne kept the Rams to 9/266 from the opening 90 overs in a rematch of last season’s preliminary final at the same venue.
The Swans took regular wickets throughout the day, halting the progress of any Ringwood partnerships before they could get off the ground.
The largest stand the Rams could offer was 63, for the sixth wicket, having begun at 5/129.
The prized wicket of veteran David King was the first to fall, caught by Yash Pednekar in the ring off the bowling of Jackson Fry for just 22.
The interruption of rhythm due to the consistent falling of wickets meant no Rams batter could cash-in on their starts, with Oliver Horlock (66) and Jackson Freeman (52) the only two to pass 50.
The Rams will have the option of continuing to bat next week if they choose.
Jack Stevenson continues to impress at his new home, taking 2/30 from his 19 overs and bowling seven maidens to finish as the pick of the Swans’ bowling line up.
Daud Malik and Nathan Lambden also grabbed two wickets each, with Fry and Vinu Mohotty each adding one.
Casey-South Melbourne’s geographical rival Dandenong will have a sizable run chase on its hands next week after failing to capitalise on a bright start with the ball on day one of its clash with Frankston Peninsula on Saturday.
Opening bowling pair James Nanopoulos and Noah Hurley had the Heat in trouble at their home venue by removing two of the top three in the first eight overs, with the scoreline reading 2/15, but they recovered from the early instability to finish day one in a commanding position at 6/281.
Ryan Hammel and captain Jai Elcock added 139 for the third wicket to wrestle-back the ascendency in the home side’s favour.
The Heat have the option of continuing to bat next week if they choose to further pile on the pain for Dandenong, which faces a chase of close to 300 without a full complement of overs to bat.
Adding to the Panthers’ woes was an injury to seam bowler Matthew Wilson early in the day’s play.
Wilson pulled up sore from the first ball of his second over and could not complete the over, leaving the field for treatment and not returning to the bowling crease for the remainder of the afternoon, forcing Brett Forsyth to rethink his plans on the fly.
James Nanopoulos was the pick of the Panthers’ bowlers, taking 2/30 from his 21 overs and bowling 11 maidens against his old side.
Dandenong’s women, meanwhile, have made it two wins from two matches to start the Victoria Premier Cricket T20 season with a 17-run victory over Carlton on Sunday.
Ishita Tiwari did the damage with the bat, blasting six boundaries in an unbeaten 42 off 27 after a middle-order collapse erased Jess Bohn and Gaby Lewis’ strong foundation at the top of the order.
The Panthers lost 4/1 midway through the innings before scoring a boundary from each of the last eight overs to reach 6/118.
Economical opening spells from Thivyaa Mahendran and Vanicha Pathania gave Dandenong some early running before first change bowler Acacia Sutton got the first breakthrough, amplifying the pressure on Carlton.
Despite a 39-run partnership midway through their innings, Carlton never looked like chasing down the total as Dandenong dried the scoring up.
The Panthers will face Plenty Valley next Sunday at Beaumaris Secondary College.
