By JARROD POTTER
VICTORIAN PREMIER CRICKET – ROUND 8 AND 9 REVIEW (Twenty20)
AFTER eight rounds at the helm, Casey-South Melbourne skipper Lachlan Sperling finally got to lead the boys to a victory, as the Swans knocked over Melbourne.
After plenty of close misses this Premier season, the form-line finally changed for the Casey boys on Sunday in their round nine Twenty20.
In complete contrast to its recent two-day struggle against Monash Tigers – bowled out twice for 150 runs total – the Swans were upbeat throughout the weekend, testing Prahran on Saturday before taking the first triumph over Melbourne on Sunday.
“Fantastic – it’s much better than losing,” Sperling said.
“Especially after the Monash Tigers game – we couldn’t have played much worse through all areas of the game and to come out and play a lot better was great.
“It’s a bit of relief I suppose and the hardest one to get is that first one … fingers crossed it can kick-start us a bit and give us some belief that we can match it with everyone.”
Sunday’s T20 battle saw former Victorian batsman Michael Hill (45) and up-and-comer Seb Gotch (33) rise as the best of the MCC contingent, but the visitors couldn’t seal the deal against the Swans’ troupe.
Lee Diston (3/18), James Seymour (2/19) and Brendan Rose (2/23) kept the pressure up and restricted Melbourne to 130.
The chase was a surprise for most at Casey-South Melbourne – as it has leaned heavily on its openers – James Seymour (24) and Kasun Suriaratchie – but the middle order in fact won hat made its mark, with the skipper in particular holding off the MCC attack.
Sperling (38) alongside Keirran Voekl (31) hit the bad ball and rotated strike – keeping things simple as the chase diminished – before he was run out.
Voekl, Dylan Hadfield (29 not out) and Nathan Lambden (8 not out) finished the job at the death to get the Swans home with two balls to spare.
“We started pegging them back, bowled the right areas and limited the boundaries – they got 130 and I was very happy with that and that we could chase it,” Sperling said.
“Kasun went out to a pretty good catch, didn’t make too many, but it was good that the middle order stood up and made it count when the game was on the line.
“That’s the most pleasing thing – the number of contributors we had was great.”
Backing up for another double-header, Casey will head to Fitzroy-Doncaster on Saturday before hosting Greenvale to round off the Twenty20s.
Saturday wasn’t ideal for the Swans, conceding 5/150 to Prahran across the first Twenty20 of the weekend as David Hussey (52) and Adam Bull (46) flayed the Swans with the ball.
The Swans performed ably with the bat as Seymour (24) and Suriaratchie (27) got the side off to a quick start, but soon fell away on Saturday as Prahran showed off its all-rough might.
Win number one pulls Casey-South Melbourne off the bottom of the ladder, where it has resided for most of the last two seasons.
