By Marcus Uhe
A hat-trick of T20 wins across the last fortnight is reviving Casey South-Melbourne’s Victorian Premier Cricket season after an inconsistent beginning to the summer for last season’s runner up.
A venture to the inner suburbs and the Albert Ground in Melbourne’s south was fruitful for the Swans, flying away with wins over Melbourne and Greenvale in contrasting circumstances.
Where the second match of the afternoon was a comfortable 39-run win over the home side, the first saw them draw on their resilience and mental strength under pressure to chase down 155 against Greenvale.
At 4/128 with four overs remaining, the Swans scored off 19 of the final 22 deliveries to sneak home with three balls to spare, thanks to a 27-run stand from Devin Pollock and Jackson Isakka.
Luke Shelton and Matthew Calder got Casey-South Melbourne off to an excellent start with an 80-run partnership before Calder made way for 33.
Ruwantha Kellapotha joined his captain for a brief stay and when Shelton was dismissed for 54, just two balls after Kellapotha was removed, the Swans were starting again with the fresh pair of Isakka and Ashley Chandrasinghe at the wicket, needing more than a run-per-ball off the final seven overs.
Isakka took the reins ahead of the generally patient and methodical Chandrasinghe, running hard between the wickets and finding the gaps in the final handful of overs.
Despite only hitting three boundaries, Isakka finished with 27 off 18 deliveries with a commitment to picking up singles and twos.
When he tickled Kangaroos seamer Justin Galeotti to fine leg to bring up the winning runs, the relief on his face was clear, having guided his side to victory.
In the first innings, Swans debutant Akshay Ramkumar made an instant impression in the heat of battle, sharing new ball duties with Nathan Lambden.
The right-arm offspinner bowled the second over of the match in a huge vote of confidence from Shelton, before returning in the middle overs with great affect.
The teenager finished with 1/16 from his four overs as one of the Swans top performers, outshining the established spinner pair of Kellapotha and Shelton and finishing as the only bowler with an economy below six.
The Kangaroos were looking set for a big score at 0/82 in the 11th over before losing 3/4, including both established batters at the top of the order.
Lambden grabbed two wickets in the 11th over before seamers Vinu Mohotty and Isakka chimed in with wickets in consecutive balls.
Lambden finished as the only Swans bowler to take multiple wickets, finishing with 2/33.
The Swans were not forced to dig themselves out of trouble in the second contest of the day, comfortably defending 158 against Melbourne.
The runs were shared among the top six with each making between 16 and 31, before each of the six bowlers used grabbed a wicket to bowl Melbourne out for 119 in the 19th over.
Kellapotha top scored with the bat, making 31, and grabbed 1/20 with the ball.
Melbourne was on the back foot early in the chase and never fully recovered, slipping to 4/29 at the beginning of the sixth over when some sharp fielding from backward point had Farzan Chowna short of his ground.
Shelton’s bowled a miserly four overs, taking 2/15, and Jack Stevenson claimed 3/29.
Casey South-Melbourne has climbed into sixth place on the table and will face Kingston Hawthorn at home on Saturday to wrap up the 2024 calendar year.
