Swans savour first win

By Marc McGowan
A MIXTURE of relief and elation erupted at Casey Fields on Saturday moments after Casey-South Melbourne picked up its first win of the Victorian Premier Cricket season.
The 60-run triumph over Camberwell follows five one-day defeats and a loss in the opening two-day match of the season.
It was a supreme performance from the Swans, set up by English import Chris Benham’s masterful century the previous weekend and strong contributions from several others.
Casey-South Melbourne resumed at 7/316, but the Magpies quickly wrapped up the innings to bowl the home side out for 332.
Troy Ryan and Stephen Gribble finished with three wickets apiece for Camberwell.
The rain during the week spiced up the local deck and was just the luck the Swans required against the dominant Magpie batting line-up.
Star Camberwell openers Jeremy Bray and Matthew Wade fell cheaply and when Simon Hill (23 runs off 46 balls) and Aaron Maynard departed the score was 4/44.
Lukas Hoogenboom (4/77 from 25 overs) and Matthew Hawking (2/56 from 19) had two scalps each and the Swans were well in charge.
It just got worse for the Magpies after lunch, with 17-year-old second-gamer Aaron Daniel (4/71 from 23 overs) playing a major role by claiming his first two wickets at first XI level.
Hoogenboom also snared another to have Camberwell teetering at 7/134 – still 199 runs from taking the points.
But the recovery began when James Pearson (88 off 115, nine fours and five sixes) joined Gribble (61 off 151, five fours and two sixes) at the crease.
The pair got the scoreboard ticking over and as their confidence grew the ball reached and cleared the boundary regularly.
What had seemed like a routine result for Casey-South Melbourne was rapidly becoming a nightmare as the Magpie duo powered on.
The 80th over arrived and stand-in Swans skipper Craig Entwistle immediately took the new ball.
Hoogenboom was a logical choice to take the leather, but Entwistle pulled a surprise by partnering him with leg-spinner Daniel.
It proved a masterstroke as the latter trapped Pearson lbw for the crucial breakthrough that ended the 136-run partnership and he had Gribble stumped soon after.
Casey-South Melbourne was still running out of time, however, and Hoogenboom took the rock with two overs remaining.
The drought-breaking victory finally happened when the blond fast bowler uprooted the stumps of number-11 batsman Mark Dwyer with the final delivery of his over.
Entwistle, who will hand the captaincy reins back to the recovered Michael Hansen this weekend, was delighted to steer the Swans to the success.
“It was absolutely fantastic to get a win and it was just what the whole club needed just to keep spirits alive and let everyone know we’re heading in the right direction,” he said.
“There were really massive celebrations on the ground after we took the last wicket because it had got really tense (but) … we had a general consensus that if we took one more wicket we could take it over.”
Entwistle did concede that the weather was a factor in the contest.
“With how strong the Camberwell batting line-up is, we would have to have bowled exceptionally well if it was the same wicket as the previous Saturday,” he said.
“There is no doubt that we would have to have bowled exceptionally well. That is not taking anything away from our players – we were honest about that.”
Casey-South Melbourne will hope to carry its momentum into the club’s two-day clash with Hawthorn-Monash University at Monash University Oval, starting on Saturday at 11am.