Captain-coach Roger Sillence was the only Casey-South Melbourne batsman to impress with a defiant 71-run innings.
By Marc McGowan
CASEY-SOUTH Melbourne’s form slump continued on the weekend against Ringwood in the teams’ two-day battle at Russell Lucas Oval, after another insipid batting display.
The Swans were chasing the Rams’ first-innings total of 289, but after having lost three wickets with only 10 runs on the board, eventually succumbed by 84 runs.
Casey-South Melbourne captain-coach Roger Sillence predicted it would take one of his batsmen to make a century to reach Ringwood’s first-innings total and he was proven correct.
Sillence top-scored for the Swans with 71, but only all-rounder Craig Entwistle (28 runs) managed to offer any sort of support for the captain.
Top order batting and a lack of contributors has been a season-long problem for Casey-South Melbourne and has been magnified by the cooling off of early season heroes Entwistle and grassroots recruit Luke Van Raay.
These weaknesses have also been made worse since the switch to two-day action, where it is more difficult to escape with few standout performers.
In the absence of regular number-three Michael Hansen, young opener Brett Watkins stepped into the cauldron of fire and his exclusion was as quick as his inclusion, as he departed for a duck and was soon joined back in the pavilion by Stephen Nicholls (seven) and Joel Leaver (duck).
Entwistle strode to the centre and combined with Sillence for a 60-run partnership to add respectability to the score, but once the former departed the pressure went up another notch for the Swans.
Van Raay (18) was the next to join Sillence and a 55-run alliance ensued, but once this association ended, Casey-South Melbourne was in dire straits at 5/125 and still 164 runs in arrears.
Wickets continued to tumble and despite all of the lower-order batsmen reaching double figures, none could go on with the job, as the Swans eventually were bowled out for just 205.
Ringwood’s in-form bowling line-up came to the fore once again, with Steven Gilmour (3/37 off 19 overs), Drew McKay (2/37 off 11 overs) and Matthew Gale (2/42 off 17 overs) taking multiple wickets.
Sillence said their batting group needed to get back to basics.
“It just seems that one person each week is doing the job rather than the three or four guys we need,” he said.
“It is about application at the crease. Batsmen need to be prepared to bat for two, two-and-a-half, three hours.
“It comes down to the individual and their desire to play this level of cricket.”
Sillence blamed a stretch of games on Casey Fields’ new wicket for the lack of confidence within his batsmen, but believes they had no excuses this week.
“The wicket was good to bat on. Our batsmen were getting in, but they weren’t going on with it,” he said.
Casey-South Melbourne faces Fitzroy-Doncaster at Schramms Reserve this weekend in another two-dayer and the contest will be played over Saturday and Sunday, rather than two weekends.
