Left: Luke Van Raay terrorised the Dandenong batsmen in his seventh over, picking up the scalps of Kumar Sarna, Tom Donnell and Warren Ayres.
By Marc McGowan
CASEY-SOUTH Melbourne lost by 17 runs in a thrilling one-day Victorian Premier League local derby against Dandenong at Casey Fields on Saturday.
The Swans entered the match as rank underdogs against the Panthers, but showed they were capable of mixing it with the best teams in the competition.
However, Casey-South Melbourne’s deficiencies were once again on display, with brittle batting, erroneous fielding and at times undisciplined bowling.
Swans captain-coach Roger Sillence sent Dandenong in on a decent wicket and some slick work in the field provided the early wicket Casey-South Melbourne was craving.
Then former Swans player Tom Donnell (66 runs from 85 balls) stepped to the crease and combined with exciting Australian under-19 opening batsman Kumar Sarna (56 from 97) for a slashing 128-run stand that put the Panthers in control.
Enter all-rounder Luke van Raay (3/40 off 10 overs), who picked up the scalps of both batsmen and also added Dandenong captain Warren Ayres to his account, all in his seventh over.
The van Raay onslaught put the match on an even keel at 4/137.
The Casey-South Melbourne bowlers did a good job from then on to prevent partnerships from developing, and restricted the Panthers to 54 runs off their final 10 overs.
Apart from the efforts of Donnell and Sarna, Dandenong’s 7/229 was bankrolled by solid contributions from former Swans all-rounder David Newman (24) and Paul Boraston (23 from 21).
Casey-South Melbourne had yet another new face at the top of the order, with 16-year-old Victorian under-18 player Reuben Wakefield stepping into the slot alongside the in-form Michael Hansen.
Wakefield (11 from 34) handled it well, but struggled with his strokemaking and had his stumps knocked over by the impressive but rarely used James Prendergast (3/34 off nine overs).
Sillence (2) quickly followed trying to slash a ball from outside off-stump, but the biggest loss was veteran Hansen, who, despite being dropped when he was on 7, had begun to look comfortable.
The Swans were forced to consolidate after losing Adam Thornton (8) and crawled to 4/77 after 26 overs.
Needing another 153 to win from just 24 overs, Casey-South Melbourne finally started building momentum.
Craig Entwistle (64 from 84) never looked like going out, and left the heavy hitting to van Raay (22 from 33) and Joel Leaver (33 from 36), as the Swans stormed back into the contest.
With Casey-South Melbourne requiring 85 from the final 10 overs, the task became increasingly difficult as the Panthers tightened the clamps.
Newman’s dismissal of his housemate Leaver was the final nail in the coffin as the Swans eventually finished on 9/212.
Sillence felt his side was below par in all facets of the game and did not put the finger on any one discipline.
“Obviously, they’re a good side. At the end there were only 20-odd runs in it,” he said.
“If you look throughout the whole day, we lost plenty of runs fielding, batting and bowling, which were crucial.”
The 29-year-old Englishman was pleased with the debut of Wakefield and is looking forward to injecting more youth into the side.
“It’s important to give guys a taste this year to let them know what it’s all about,” Sillence said.
“Wakey didn’t get a big score, but he looked the part.
“We’ve obviously got Clive (Rose) to come back this week and he’s only a youngster, and we’ve played Thorno now.
“There were encouraging signs.”
The two sides meet again on 17 and 24 February in a two-day match at Casey Fields, but Casey-South Melbourne returns to the field this weekend for a one-day battle against Hawthorn-Monash University at Monash University Oval.
