Second win for Swans

By Paul Pickering
MARK Ridgway’s sense of humour has been tested during his tenure at Casey-South Melbourne, but the Swans coach could afford to laugh this week.
His side had just registered its second win in as many weekends, beating North Melbourne by 40 runs, and Ridgway’s spirits were high.
“Two wins in a row – I’m going to ask for a pay rise,” he quipped.
“I might become mayor of Cranbourne.”
Jokes aside, Ridgway knows that his team has a long, long way to go in its quest for genuine respect in the Premier Cricket competition.
But after a 2008-09 season that reaped just a single victory, the Swans are content in the knowledge that they’re on the improve.
Saturday’s victory over the struggling Roos was another reminder of the group’s potential, but also its frailties.
The Swans batted first and laboured to be all out for 157. It could have been much worse if not for a crucial 34-run ninth-wicket partnership between Jayde Herrick (34 from 36 balls) and Matt Hawking (14 not out from 19).
Hawking then struck twice with the new ball to have the Roos at 2/6, but a handy partnership between skipper Clint Hillas and Daniel Salpietro gave the home side some hope.
That was until Damien Wright was thrown the ball. He took 3/9 from seven overs and effectively shut the Roos out of the contest.
Not surprisingly, Ridgway was happy to have the big Bushranger back in the line-up – albeit slightly jet-lagged on his return from the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.
“He only got off the plane from India at 8.30pm on Friday night, so just to be there was a tremendous effort,” Ridgway explained.
“He has a presence about him and having him around the club makes people lift.”
Wright’s influence may be most valuable for the likes of 18-year-old right-armer Jeff de Wet (1/20), who played his first game of the season on Saturday after returning from a year with Hawthorn-Monash University.
Fittingly, it was the youngster who clinched the victory for the Swans by skittling North tail-ender Nathan Hrovatin in the 44th over.
Hawking (2/38), Herrick (1/18), Clive Rose (1/18) and Craig Entwistle (2/13) all enjoyed success with the leather in hand.
And while the Swans have yet to make a substantial total with the bat, they’re sitting just one point outside the top eight.
Ridgway is the first to note that they still play some ‘dumb cricket’ at times, but he reckons the club is on the right track.
“We’re slowly getting there,” he said.
“It’s been a lot of work over the last 15 or 16 months, but the way we train and the way we prepare for games has some purpose now.
“Every person in our team has an understanding of what their job is.”
That renewed purpose we’ll face a stern test in the first two-day clash of the summer beginning on Saturday.
The opponent, Geelong, demolished the Swans for just 62 in the opening game of last season.