Premier win: Kingston Hawthorn upsets undefeated St Kilda

The Saints hadn’t been beaten this season but the Hawks surprised them at the Junction Oval.

Happy Hawks: the Kingston Hawthorn players come off the ground after defeating St Kilda.

It was first against 16th.

It was the top team, unbeaten St Kilda, playing at home against third-from-the-bottom Kingston Hawthorn.

And it was a boilover of scalding proportions.

Even as a few of the players had to look up the words to it, the Hawks sang their song with gusto on Saturday after pulling off a victory even more surprising than Frankston Peninsula’s defeat of Melbourne in the previous round.

After being sent in under grey skies and on a wicket that had spent the night under covers, they raised 182, and then dismissed the Saints for 155.

It was hard to recall the last time the Hawks had beaten St Kilda. In fact, it was in 2016-17, in a T20, when they cobbled together 6-136 and rolled the Saints for 110.

From that side, only Shorye Chopra remains in the Hawks’ XI.

Chopra is now captain and he top scored with 49 on Saturday to give his team a fighting total.

The Hawks had started in style, with openers Romain Grenville and Thaveesh Attanayke putting up 50 in 11 overs, Grenville blasting, Attanayake nudging.

Jade Christensen took two wickets for the Saints.

But Grenville, after muscling 35 off 36 deliveries, with 5 fours and 1 six, gave it away, swinging wildly at paceman Will Lovell and skying the ball, Saints keeper Patrick Rowe taking it safely.

In came No 3 Matt Vorbach – and out he went after opting not play to play at a delivery that flattened his off-stump.

Chopra saw off the hat-trick.

Like Lovell, Josh Bartlett was on a hat-trick after removing Abi Jain (1) and Chopra (49) with successive deliveries.

The skipper’s runs came off 84 balls and included 2 fours and a six sweetly struck over mid-on off Jon Merlo.

Left-hander Attanayake, promoted after a Second XI century, persisted for 31 off 68 deliveries before holing out off spinner Todd Murphy.

Ashish Mathew hit a handy 21 later in the innings, falling to young quickie Lovell, who nabbed 4-45 off his 10 overs.

Bartlett had 3-25 off his 10 and paceman Henry Thornton clipped the tail – and clanged a helmet or two – for 2-28.

St Kilda shed top three Michael De Iavoco (0), Josh Manning (14) and Merlo (4) cheaply, leaving it to captain Adam Crosthwaite to supervise the run chase, as he did successfully last week against Prahran.

He lost Rowe (17) and Ben Davies (14), but at 5-141 the home team still looked on course for victory, if not another bonus point.

But the Saints had a collapse of 5-14 after Crosthwaite played on to Mathew for 66 (off 101 balls and with six boundaries).

Mathew slipped in with 2-20 off six overs, but Harry Singh’s burst with the new ball, when he got rid of the dangerous De Iacovo and state squad member Merlo, set the Hawks on their way. He returned to take two more wickets and finish with 4-35 off eight overs.

Jade Christensen (2-15 off eight) and Grenville (2-33 off 10) did their bit too, as did spinner Prateek Patil, who didn’t take a wicket, but did clamp an end, conceding only 23 runs from his 10 overs. He also took a sharp catch at cover to dismiss De Iacovo.

“An even contribution, which is what we’re always looking for,’’ a chuffed Kingston Hawthorn coach Peter Marshall said.

“Everyone chipped in. Everyone is buying in, and we’re going OK.

“We had three words yesterday: focus, intensity and hunt. And fair play, St Kilda bowled and fielded really well. I said at the break, ‘They’ve done that, we’ve got to replicate it’. And we did. But as I said to the boys after the game, great win, enjoy it, but it all goes down the toilet if we don’t back up against Greenvale Kangaroos.’’

Marshall said Chopra’s captaincy was outstanding.

“To me, that was a highlight, the way he rotated the bowlers, the way he kept the field up,’’ he said.