By Marcus Uhe
Casey South Melbourne captain Luke Shelton has declared that there is no panic in the Swans’ dressing room, despite suffering a third straight loss in Victorian Premier Cricket on the weekend.
Shelton’s side bowled Northcote out for 298 on Saturday, before reaching 9/197 on Sunday, falling 101 runs short of the home side’s day one score with Jackson Fry not batting due to injury.
The Swans let Northcote off the hook in the first innings, after a spell for 4/5 saw Shelton and left-arm veteran quick Fry swing the momentum of the contest to the visitors’ favour, from 3/200 to 7/205.
But Fry was soon forced out of the attack and taken to hospital after splitting the webbing in his hand during that critical spell, requiring three stitches and ending his contribution to the match.
Northcote’s final three batters added a crucial 93 runs, capitalising on Casey South Melbourne being a strike bowler down in the final session on a wicket offering little assistance to the bowlers.
Shelton led the way with 4/78 from 24 overs, while Nathan Lambden went wicketless for the first time this season.
In reply, none of the Swans batters could capitalise on starts on a wicket with considerably more life for the bowlers than the day before.
Four scores in the 20s, led by Lachlan Sperling and Chris Bedenek’s 27s, told the story of the batting performance, the area of the Swans’ game that needs addressing the most, according to the skipper.
“We’re just not getting enough runs,” Shelton explained.
“There’s a lot of guys getting starts and not going on, and before Christmas there were guys getting hundreds, big hundreds and we were getting winning scores.
“We kept Carlton to 215, we bowled Geelong out for 220 and the bowling was good again on the weekend in a two-day game.
“Our batters were great before Christmas, we have had a couple of batters out but there’s still enough batting in there to get some decent scores.
“We’re just looking for some batters to stand up and get back into some form.”
After sitting top of the table after round 13, the prevailing three losses since have seen the Swans slip to fifth, and out of the critical top four.
But they sit just seven points behind ladder leading Prahran, six behind Carlton and two from Ringwood in third, meaning plenty can change in the final two weeks of the season.
It’s why Shelton remains confident that his side can recapture their form, and remain a threat come the pointy end of the season.
“It obviously hasn’t been the best couple of weeks for us but we’re still very positive,” he said.
“There’s no panic, it’s just a little bit of a speed-hump.
“We’re still very focused on what our end goal is and we’re still in a very good position to feature heavily, come the back end of the year.
“We’re embracing the last three games, and it’s a good indication of some areas that we need to improve.
“If we bat long, we’ll win games of cricket, I’ve got no doubt about that.
“If we can take the game deep, and hopefully get some points on the board, we can finish strong and put ourselves in a good position to have a good finals campaign.”
Shelton is hopeful that Fry will only miss one game, while opening batter Yash Pednekar is still a couple of weeks away, having suffered the same injury for a second time this season.
The Swans head to Melbourne University this week before finishing the campaign at home against Footscray.
