Casey-South Melbourne youngster Luke Chapple could be headed back to the club’s seconds for an extended stint after dual failures in its clash with Dandenong at Casey Fields. Picture: Meagan Rogers.By Marc McGowan
AFTER showing signs of improvement midway through the Victorian Premier Cricket season, Casey-South Melbourne has well and truly returned to its dismal ways.
The Swans lurched to their third straight defeat and one of their most disappointing to date.
Defending champion Dandenong was always going to be a tough proposition, but the 10-wicket outright loss was nothing short of substandard.
Casey-South Melbourne, admittedly missing five first XI players including English recruit Chris Benham, relinquished first innings points the previous weekend.
But with the Panthers only just ahead and still batting in its first innings, there was not much hope of the visitors pulling off an outright result.
Resuming at 2/165, Dandenong chased quick runs and received best service from Victorian second XI all-rounder and former Swan David Newman (65 runs off 64 balls) and all-time competition leading runs scorer Warren Ayres (40 off 40).
Ayres declared the Panthers’ innings at 6/292, with a 133-run buffer and a glimmer of hope for maximum points.
However, despite a shaky start, Casey-South Melbourne made it to tea at 3/107, with Australian under-19 sensation Clive Rose (69 off 130) and wicketkeeper Robbie Elston (21 off 64) well set.
It did not take long for the wheels to come off.
Dandenong all-rounder Matt Chasemore (4/27 from 11.2 overs) trapped Elston in front with the second ball after the interval.
Chasemore’s skidding medium-pacers then continued wreaking havoc and soon captured the vital scalp of Rose, followed by the horribly out-of-form Luke Chapple for a duck.
Suddenly, the Swans were 6/135, with plenty of overs left in the day.
Lucas van Raay, who is still shaking off the rust after a long injury layoff, offered strong resistance, but the pressure was on due to the weak nature of Casey-South Melbourne’s lower order.
Daniel Streker became spinner Nathan Allen’s first wicket for the innings to make it 7/152 before a shocking umpiring error ended the Swans’ hopes.
Van Raay (26 off 53) was adjudged caught behind off Newman despite missing the ball – a fact not lost on the Panthers behind the stumps, whose appeal left much to be desired.
The burly all-rounder begrudgingly left the ground, but not before he had let the umpires know of his disgust.
The remaining batsmen only offered token resistance, with even that helped by the fact number-11 Lukas Hoogenboom was dropped twice.
Finally, Casey-South Melbourne was dismissed for 165, leaving Dandenong with the simple equation of needing 33 runs from 11 overs to acquire maximum points.
Hoogenboom took the new ball and courtesy of an astounding nine fielders on the off-side, managed to open up with a maiden.
But it was open slather from then on as teenage prodigies Kumar Sarna and Brett Forsyth mopped up the runs with ease.
Sarna completed the demolition job with a typically thunderous cover drive to the boundary.
Swans captain Michael Hansen failed to comprehend his team’s fade-out for the second time in the game.
“(The outright defeat) wasn’t expected. It should have been pretty easy to bat out the rest of the day, bat positively, and make a decent score,” he said.
“We had a couple of things not go our way and a couple went their way as well and those were critical.
“But, ultimately, we didn’t bat well enough.”
While Casey-South Melbourne will welcome back Benham and Tim Dale this weekend, it loses Rose, who is heading off for Australian under-19 duties ahead of the World Cup in Malaysia this month.
Hansen expects leg-spinner Aaron Daniel to receive more overs in Rose’s absence, but has also earmarked latest signing Andrew Perrin as a possibility of making his debut in the ones on Saturday.
“Andrew’s a young quick from Gippsland and he’s training with us this week,” Hansen said.
“He played in the recent under-18 Coca Cola Cup and is a pretty good bowler.
“We’ll play him in the twos at a minimum, but if he turns up and is an absolute tearaway, we’ll give him a chance in the ones.”
The Swans face ninth-ranked Melbourne University at Casey Fields from 11am on Saturday.
