Some Harry Hoekstra magic lifted Casey South Melbourne to another positive position after day one on Saturday in round 16 of Victorian Premier Cricket.
Casey South Melbourne travelled to Jubilee Park to face 10th-placed Ringwood with both teams looking to qualify for finals and needing a win.
With the high stakes, the Swans won the toss and sent the hosts in to bat.
Hoekstra hit the mark early, dismissing David King (5) in the eighth over, bringing Ringwood to 1/7.
He then found the next two breakthroughs, picking up the wickets of Archie Flynn (8) and Rheedyi Adam Amin (14) to apply further pressure and leave the Rams 3/30.
Wickets continued to fall for the hosts as Matthew Mountain (3), Oliver Horlock (14) and Benjamin Gibson (7) were the next three men to the sheds.
Finlay Gordon was responsible for two of those and Casey South Melbourne was well on top with the hosts in trouble at 6/69.
A handy knock from Ian Holland (35) wrestled back some momentum for Ringwood, but the Swans quickly shut that down by taking 2/0 as Holland was caught off the bowling of Akshay Ramkumar followed by Yash Pednekar running out Dylan Walker (0).
Casey South Melbourne was on the brink of a dominant performance with the ball as the Rams sat at 8/115 until Ringwood’s last line of defence stood tall.
A critical partnership between Jackson Freeman and Luke Tully brought on massive frustrations for the visitors as the pair dug in for 69 runs with Freeman (76) the chief culprit, passing the half century milestone.
But Hoekstra came through in the big moments, first rattling the stumps of Freeman before bagging the scalp of Tully to hold the hosts to 199.
Hoekstra notched his maiden five-wicket haul for the Swans, finishing with impressive figures of 5/32 from 20.1 overs.
Casey South Melbourne was left with 17 overs to bat, which started poorly as Gordon (17) was caught in the fourth over of the innings.
Number three Jackson Isakka (12) then became the second bat to fall as he was castled by Walker.
Skipper Ash Chandrasinghe (15 not out) braved out the day with night watchman Nathan Lambden (0 not out) to settle at 2/48 at stumps.
The Swans require 152 runs on day two to secure victory.
Frankston Peninsula brought up 340 against Geelong thanks to a deep batting performance.
Half centuries for Jai Elcock (61), Cooper Remy (56), and Nicholas Taranto (51) were supported by handy scores from Charlie Maxwell (45), Joseph Eckland (42) and Lachlan Klauer (35).
Zane Attard was brilliant for the Cats, recording six wickets from his 28 overs.
St Kilda was led by Adam Crosthwaite (70 not out), James Seymour (50) and Thomas Russ (43) and posted 8/264 against Richmond.
An in-form pair guided Melbourne University to a mammoth total of 9/409 before the Black Angels declared away at Greenvale.
Finlay Bean (105) raised the bat for his second century in three games, partnered with captain Fergus McKenna (116) recording a second consecutive century and his fourth straight score over 50.
The Kangaroos were forced to bat 11 overs after the declaration and knocked off 39 runs without loss to finish the day.
A monster innings from Tom Smyth (184 off 301 balls) partnered with Jai Lemire (81) aided Carlton in bringing up 9/350 against Camberwell.
Footscray is 0/7 in its chase after bowling out Essendon for 172.
Liam Mason’s spell of 4/21 off 20.3 overs was outstanding for the Dogs.
Despite 73 not out from Liam Banthorpe, Fitzroy Doncaster was rolled for 186 by Kingston Hawthorn, who is 2/80 in pursuit.
Jack Lalor’s insane knock of 183 carried Northcote to a total of 317 against Prahran.
Lalor smashed 17 fours and six sixes, totalling 104 runs from boundaries.
