By RUSSELL BENNETT
CASEY-SOUTH MELBOURNE
THE SWANS continue to loom as the surprise packets of this Victorian Premier Cricket season after an impressive home win over the Camberwell Magpies at Casey Fields.
Casey-South Melbourne won the toss on day one and sent the visitors in – restricting them to just 171 inside 65 overs.
A stellar half-century from Tom Rickarby (86) and a fighting 44 from Simon Hill saw the Magpies reach a defendable total, but Andrew Perrin (5/36) wasn’t to be denied. He cut through the visitors’ batting line-up like a hot knife through butter, dismissing both Magpies top scorers on his way to a brilliant five-wicket haul.
Resuming on day two on 0/31 – just 140 runs in arrears of Camberwell and still with all 10 wickets remaining – the Swans started unconvincingly – losing Shane Maggs (12) and Chris Hall (3) early.
But the home side steadied, thanks in large part to an 81-run stand between opener Josh Holden (64) and Daniel Watson (37). The pair took the Swans to 3/131 and put the side back on the track to victory. But Casey was still in for a few nervous moments before wrapping up the contest – losing another five wickets before finally reaching the target.
Tom Russ (2/20), Jack McNamara (2/23) and Brendan Drew (2/40) shared the workload with the ball for the Magpies, while Nathan Freitag and Lachlan Sperling each scored 17 valuable lower-order runs to help see the Swans home.
With the win, Casey-South Melbourne jumped to sixth on the Victorian Premier 1st XI ladder, and will next face the third-placed St Kilda in a stern test at the Junction Oval, starting this Saturday.
