800 runs and counting: Luke Wells is in spanking form for Casey South Melbourne
Casey South Melbourne tumbled down the ladder in Premier Cricket last season. But the arrival of English batsman Luke Wells has turned around the Swans’ fortunes.
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AFTER a rugged and ragged 2017-18 season, all is well again at Casey South Melbourne.
All is Wells, too.
When the Swans engaged English player Luke Wells as their captain for 2018-19, his record for Sussex — more than 7000 runs, with 18 centuries — suggested he would be a fine player in Premier ranks.
His first net at the club confirmed it, at least in the mind of Swans director of cricket Craig Lambden.
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He didn’t want it published, but Lambden suggested Wells could make 1000 runs for the season.
The left-hander, he said, “looked a class above’’.
Almost four months on, Wells is making Lambden look an astute judge.
Going in to the Round 12 match against Melbourne University, he had 630 runs at 63, with centuries against Fitzroy-Doncaster (121), Dandenong (154) and Greenvale Kangaroos (111no).
Tack on his 181 runs in the Super Slam and he’s given the Swans 811 runs.
He’s also given them leadership, something that was lacking last season as they stumbled then tumbled after playing finals in 2016-17.
With four rounds left Casey South Melbourne is back up to seventh, not yet guaranteed of a top-eight finish, but in far better heart than 12 months ago.
A few Swans connections lured 28-year-old Wells to Casey Fields.
Club president Ross Hibbins got in contact with former Swan Damien Fleming, who spoke to Sussex’s Luke Wright, who had played a T20 match for the club in 2012-13.
Pretty soon a deal was done. Wells — whose father, Alan, played one Test match for England and made almost 21,000 first-class runs — had turned out in Grade cricket in Sydney for two seasons and was keen to return to Australia and play in a new city.
There were three aspects to it: escaping the English winter and, from a cricketing point of view, restoring confidence in his batting and trying his hand at captaincy.
Prolific in 2016 and ’17, Wells laboured last year despite leading off with a century for Sussex.
“Yeah, I’d had a poor year back home,’’ he was saying on Tuesday over coffee in Mordialloc.
“I know how good I can be — I don’t necessarily doubt my ability — but I had a tough year and I thought I could come out here and remind myself I could play and find that spark again and enjoy the game again.
“There was also that opportunity to be a leader and captain the club. I’ve definitely got leadership aspirations at my County club.’’
When Wells arrived ahead of Round 2 he heard talk that Swans players rarely made centuries, part of the reason they battled last season.
He answered that quickly, making 51 against Prahran and the 121 against Fitzroy-Doncaster the following day.
Respect was earned. An example was set.
“That was a big theme, guys not getting hundreds, so I felt under a bit of pressure to get one early on,’’ Wells said.
“I made a 50 the day before and gave it away. So the next day it was about going on, proving I could play and winning a game.
“When a club has invested in you to come over as captain, you feel pressure straight away to make good on their commitment to you.
“It’s not like you’re just another player in the ranks. They’ve had a proud history, they’d struggled the year before and they decided to invest in a player from overseas. You have to do the job. That’s probably been an extra factor in me producing the number of runs I have. I feel duty-bound to.’’
The innings against Fitzroy-Doncaster made quite an impression on Lions star and Victorian Premier Cricket stalwart Peter Dickson.
“Dicko’’ saw a “really organised batsman who didn’t make any mistakes’’ and was “prepared to bat for a long period’’.
He called Wells “your perfect overseas player’’.
“He was up for the fight and everything we threw at him he was good enough to cop,’’ he said.
“We had a pretty good attack that day — Andrew Perrin, Trent Lawford and co — and he didn’t look like getting out. Some County players come out here for a bit of a holiday and if they can play a bit of cricket while they’re out here … they’re pretty happy go lucky. But you could see he was out here for a different reason. He looked like he was out here to really better himself and probably try to play for England.’’
Dickson added: “Yeah, he’s probably the best batsman we’ve played against this year … and it was probably one of the best hundreds I’ve played against.’’
Wells was expecting Premier Cricket to be just as competitive as the Sydney Grade competition. He hasn’t been disappointed.
He has found the wickets to be generally friendly to batsmen, “pretty slow and flat’’, and seen some good players, particularly in the batting ranks.
Lambden said the Swans had been fortunate to gain a class batsman and an excellent clubman eager to pass on his knowledge to other players.
“What he’s doing is not just batting very well, but helping out our other players. They’re getting better just by being with him and they’re doing their job. They’re all playing for each other and enjoying their cricket.
“A lot of that comes from him (Wells). Just a good bloke, really comfortable and easy to get along with.’’
Unfortunately for the Swans, Wells has to return to the UK before the Premier finals.
But he believes Casey South Melbourne can still compete without him.
“There’s a lot of talent there. It’s just a matter of harnessing that really and getting consistent.
“We’ve got most departments covered. Nathan Lambden, he can bowl up to 140 (kmh), the middle-order is really strong at the moment … Lachie Sperling, Michael Wallace, Jordan Wyatt, our keeper, Dev Pollock … I see what they can do. Back yourself and off we go.’’
Casey South Melbourne has sounded out Wells about returning next season. In fact, Craig Lambden asked him about it in October.
“He was on to me after the first weekend,’’ he said.
“I’m like, ‘Hold off a second, it might be a flash in the pan’.’’
“But I’ll sit down with the club soon and try to get something sorted out.’’
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