Above: Rohan Blandford held the Casey-South Melbourne top order together with 37 against Dandenong on Saturday.
By David Nagel
“WATCH me pull a rabbit out of my hat” could be Casey-South Melbourne’s (7/255) new catchcry for the season after the Swans won its fifth tight contest in a row against Dandenong (254) at Casey Fields on Saturday.
Through that run of success it’s been the Swans’ bowlers who have produced the Houdini acts, but this time it was two lower-order batsmen who provided the heroics and rescued a seemingly impossible situation.
The Swans resumed at 0/2 on Saturday and suffered the worst possible start when skipper Jake Best (2) fell without addition to the score. Jolyon Leaver (10) and Shaun Foster (1) then came and went quickly and when Clive Rose (20) was trapped in front with the score on 4/51 it looked all over for the home side.
Rohan Blandford (37) opened the batting and watched the carnage unfold in front of him but became part of the procession when he was bowled by Brent Fairbanks. Dimitri Deane (26) and Sam Hughes (18) gave a glimmer of hope but they were both sent packing after promising starts and the Swans were in ruins at 7/122.
At the start of the season this would have been a roll-over-and-die job for the Swans, the too-hard-basket would have been the busiest place in the change rooms. But as the Panthers were about to find out, the boys from Casey Fields are now made of sterner stuff.
Shane Maggs (86 not out) had been fighting for almost an hour before Nathan Hibbins (55 not out) joined him in the middle and the two set about a re-building process. The Panthers wouldn’t have been trembling in its boots however, with Maggs having made 123 runs for the season and Hibbins 46.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man and the duo steered the Swans to the most unlikely of wins with an unbroken 133-run stand that lasted two-and-a-half hours and ended in the 93rd over.
The Swans hold on to eighth position on the ladder after the win and two wins from its remaining three games should see it play finals.
The Swans travel to 12th placed Fitzroy/Doncaster in round 14 followed by a home clash with fifth placed Melbourne in round 15.
The Swans finish its season with a trip to bottom placed Hawthorn-Monash University in round 16.
