Hampshire recruit Chris Benham was again prominent in Casey-South Melbourne’s eight-wicket win over Frankston Peninsula on Saturday.By Paul Pickering
CASEY-South Melbourne’s Premier Cricket resurrection continued on Saturday with an eight-wicket rout of Frankston Peninsula at Warragul’s Western Park.
After a lacklustre start to the season, the Swans have now won three of their past four matches to wrench themselves from the depths of the league ladder.
And while Saturday’s punishing victory came against the cellar-dwelling Heat, the comprehensive win has provided a welcome kick-start to 2008.
Heat skipper Luke Walker won the toss and chose to hand his opposite number Michael Hansen the ball.
But when Swans paceman Lukas Hoogenboom claimed the prized wicket of opener James Miller for just one run, Casey-South Melbourne had gained the ascendancy for good.
The Heat had slumped to 3/11 when Hoogenboom (4/13) had both Ben Clements and Chris McCormack caught behind soon after.
From there, the Peninsula players failed to stop the rot, bleeding wickets to be all out for a meagre total of 77.
While all six of the Swans’ bowlers had joy, Hansen was keen to acknowledge the impact of Hoogenboom’s destructive spell.
“A couple of our bowlers were pretty rusty, but Hoogenboom got the first few and really put them on the back foot,” he said.
“We were really keen to make the opposition play as many balls as possible, and it’s probably the first time this season that we’ve taken every catch.”
In reply, Casey-South Melbourne lost explosive opener Tim Dale early, but prolific Englishman Chris Benham (41) and wicketkeeper-batsman Max Wakefield (27 not out) combined to guide the Swans to victory in the 16th over.
While Hansen said he wouldn’t have minded a more rigorous hit-out to start the year, he was delighted to be taking some momentum into this weekend’s clash against second-placed Carlton.
Having experienced some success against the Blues in recent years, the Swans can smell an upset at Casey Fields on Saturday.
“Historically, our club has done well against Carlton, so our team is pretty confident of doing well,” Hansen said.
