Withering heights

By Paul Pickering
MARK Ridgway is right, the numbers speak for themselves: 117 runs, 55 balls, 10 fours, eight sixes.
The Casey-South Melbourne coach was lost for words to describe how English import Peter Trego announced his arrival in the Premier Cricket competition on Saturday.
The Somerset all-rounder and England A representative brutalised an inexperienced Hawthorn-Monash Uni attack to set up the Swans’ 146-run win – their first of the season.
Equally impressive was Trego’s eagerness to play down his virtuoso display.
“I still feel like it’s a couple of games late,” he said, referring to scores of 21 and 24 in his first two games for the club.
“But it’s nice to get a few runs under the belt, because you want to prove to your team-mates that you can play.”
Trego was at pains to acknowledge the support of his team-mates in an enormous 43-over total of 6/318.
Returning opener Rohan Blandford (67) and veteran Rob Elston (30) put on 86 for the first wicket, with Elston departing shortly before the end of the first 20-over phase.
“To play that sort of innings, you’ve got to have a decent base to go from, so all credit to the guys who came in before me,” Trego said.
“They set the foundation for me to throw the willow around.”
Trego’s heroics overshadowed a crucial knock from Blandford, as well as a promising 37 from St Kilda recruit Dimitri Deane and, later, a consummate display of left-arm orthodox spin from Clive Rose (4/12).
Ridgway said an instinctive, “see ball, hit ball” approach was the key to a form reversal from his batsmen.
That and the new guy, who followed Somerset team-mate and Swans skipper Damien Wright back from the UK.
“Wrighty told us all winter that this guy can murder attacks, so it wasn’t totally unexpected,” Ridgway said.
“I’ve seen enough in the nets to know that he was going to tear sides apart, but maybe I didn’t think he was going to do it straight away and in the dominant fashion he did.”
Trego’s knock is sure to have piqued the interest of England selectors ahead of an Ashes summer which includes seven one-day games and two Twenty20 matches against the Aussies early next year.
“Certainly, from a one-day point of view, I feel like I’ve put a strong case forward these last 12 months with the England A side, and I’m quite hopeful that with a bit of luck something might happen on that front,” he said.
“But the worst-case scenario is that I’m playing A Grade cricket in Melbourne, and that’s not a bad worst-case scenario.”
Not bad either for his wife and three kids, who he says are “looking forward to Christmas on the beach instead of wrapped up indoors”.
The Swans, too, have plenty to look forward to after a confidence-building win, and will now play St Kilda at the Junction Oval this Saturday.