Premier Cricket: Casey South Melbourne sends message through ‘tooth and nail’ win

Casey South Melbourne skipper Luke Shelton believes the weekend’s “tooth and nail” win is a stern message to the remainder of the Premier Cricket competition.

Casey South Melbourne batter Devin Pollock. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Casey South Melbourne skipper Luke Shelton said Sunday’s backs-against-the-wall win was a message to Premier Cricket’s remaining finalists.

The Swans were on the brink on two occasions during their qualifying bout with Prahran, sinking to 2-6 on day 1 before the True Blues hurried to 0-127 in pursuit of 271 on day 2.

Casey South Melbourne fought back through Dev Pollock (86) and Shelton (70) on day 1 before Nathan Lambden (5-99) and Jackson Fry (2-43) surged the Swans to victory on day 2.

Dev Pollock is “an old-school cricketer”, according to Luke Shelton. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Shelton said the Swans’ “tooth and nail” win would have put the six teams left in the premiership race on notice.

“I have played in some really good games of cricket in my career at different places but that, in terms of the positions we were in and the way we fought tooth and nail, I can’t think of any better than that,” he said.

“We had our backs against the wall the whole time; Will (Carr) spoke about it after the game, we were 2-6 and they were completely on top.

“Then they’re 0-127 at the start of the next day … at the toughest parts of the day we were on the back foot and in trouble.

“To fight our way out those holes on both days, that stuff is just so hard to do.

“We have a seriously resilient group and that’s a message to everyone left that we won’t ever lay down.

“Most teams probably throw the towel in from that position but we never once thought we were out of the game.”

Swans bat Chris Benedek struck 40. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The win gives Lambden and Fry – fresh off 49.3 of the Swans’ 88.3 overs – a hard-earned break.

Star spinner Ruwantha Kellapotha – who missed the match through a fractured toe – also gains another week to recover.

Shelton says the buzz around the preliminary final is already starting to brew as the Swans’ belief builds.

“We’ve always had that belief, we’ve just had a couple weeks during the year where we’ve let ourselves down a bit,” he said.

“We know we can compete, most of the sides that are left we’ve either beaten or fell just short.

“We definitely don’t fear anyone and we love the fact every week we are turning up and chasing, hunting someone else.

“I can’t wait to see who we play next and what that brings.”

The Swans will host the winner of Ringwood and Richmond while on the other side of the bracket, Carlton will welcome the winner of Prahran and Geelong.