Casey South Melbourne (130 and 182) will be hoping to reproduce its round 17 performance in Victorian Premier Cricket (VPC) this week after the Swans handled business against Richmond (70 and 9/218).
Casey South Melbourne and the Tigers will do battle again in an elimination final after a massive Carlton win bumped the Swans out of the top four.
After 20 wickets fell on day one at Casey Fields, the hosts went out to bat in the driver’s seat with a completely fresh slate and a lead of 60.
But the second day followed a similar pattern, with the pitch doing plenty and the visitors making light work of the top order.
Ash Chandrasinghe (12), Finlay Gordon (14) and Yash Pednekar (14) were all gone relatively cheaply, which was made worse as the next three bats all made ducks.
Jackson Isakka (11) became the seventh wicket to fall, stranding Casey South Melbourne in a dire position at 7/56.
Nathan Lambden (4) also didn’t stick around long, before a miraculous and game-saving knock from the unlikeliest of people changed the game.
Muhammad Irfan, who coming in had scored double digits just once on the season, battled his way through and dug deep alongside Harry Hoekstra (31) to notch a remarkable 83 at number 10.
Irfan and Hoekstra piled on over 100 runs to breathe life into the innings, moving from 8/60 to 9/167 when Hoekstra was caught.
Irfan’s fabulous performance included eight fours and four sixes, finally coming to an end when he was caught off the bowling of Dhruval Parikh.
The Swans had picked themselves up to being knocked over for 182 with a lead of 242.
In the chase, the early advantage went the way of the hosts as Hoekstra added to his match-wicket tally when he got the wicket of Jacob Hinds (13) to have Richmond 1/19.
Lambden then dismissed Archit Bhatia (5) for little impact and it seemed Casey South Melbourne was on its way to the extra points.
But resistant scores from James Doherty (81), Jonathan D’Rozario (39) and Josh Sawrey (32) ensured the Tigers would be seeing the Swans again in seven days time as they crept to 9/218 to end the day.
Ashvin Adihetty did his best for the hosts, claiming four wickets while Lambden bagged two.
Hoekstra finished the match with seven wickets after six in the first innings.
Casey South Melbourne finished fifth and will now head into a finals fixture against the eighth-placed Tigers this weekend.
Dandenong’s (239) season came to a disappointing conclusion as the Panthers were outplayed by Carlton (8/317d) at Shepley Oval.
Heading out to bat on day two, a decent opening platform was provided by Brett Forsyth (48) and Dhanusha Gamage (45) to be 2/108.
But regular wickets at inconvenient times and a lack of established partnerships after Forsyth was dismissed left the hosts 78 runs short.
Cameron Stevenson was the best for the visitors with three wickets.
VIC PREMIER SUMMARY
Results R16 (two-day): Casey South Melbourne (130 and 182) def Richmond (70 and 9/218), Dandenong (239) def by Carlton (8/317d), Footscray (8/348) draw with Prahran (5/405d), Camberwell (282) def by Melbourne (6/284), Geelong (302) def by Greenvale (8/306), Frankston Peninsula (225) def Kingston Hawthorn (208), Northcote (8/181d and 9/76) def Melbourne University (112 and 210), Fitzroy Doncaster (8/222) def Essendon (221), St Kilda (91 and 9/186) def Ringwood (159 and 117).
Ladder: St Kilda 71, Melbourne 66, Footscray 66, Carlton 64, Casey South Melbourne 64, Northcote 57, Prahran 53, Richmond 50, Camberwell 49, Frankston Peninsula 44, Ringwood 41, Melbourne University 40, Geelong 35, Fitzroy Doncaster 33.3, Dandenong 32, Essendon 19, Kingston Hawthorn 17, Greenvale 13.2.
Fixture Finals Round 1: Casey South Melbourne (5) v Richmond (8), Northcote (6) v Prahran (7), St Kilda (1) v Carlton (4), Melbourne (2) v Footscray (3).
