Premier Cricket 2020-21: Footscray’s Hamish Winter-Irving fires in win

Few things have gone Footscray paceman Hamish Winter-Irving’s way this season, but he rediscovered some of his best form in Round 13.

Hamish Winter-Irving was back in the wickets for Footscray. Picture: Mark Wilson

It has been a summer of torment for Hamish Winter-Irving.

The experienced Footscray paceman found himself in the seconds last month after struggling to rediscover his best form and had just three First XI wickets to his name entering Saturday’s Premier Cricket clash with Casey-South Melbourne.

And after the Dogs won the toss and put 140 on the board, only a supreme bowling performance would do.

Enter Winter-Irving.

The right-armer destroyed the Swans at Casey Fields, capturing 5-22 from nine overs as the visitors claimed a 19-run win.

His scalps included rival skipper Michael Wallace, wicketkeeper-batsman Devin Pollock – both of whom were playing their 100th game – and top-scorer Harrish Kannan (47).

“He’s been working pretty hard on his game, he’s just had one of those seasons, and he’s definitely not the only one in our playing group,” Footscray skipper Dylan Kight said of Winter-Irving.

“He’s just had one of those years where nothing has really gone his way.

“It’s not through a lack of effort at training or not trying hard, so it was good to see him get some reward for all the effort he’s been putting in.”

Winter-Irving was well-supported by young fast bowler Jordan Buckingham, who returned 3-15 from 9.3 overs to lift his season tally to 17 wickets at 24.4 apiece.

Buckingham removed gun opener Ashley Chandrasinghe for a first ball duck, completing a caught and bowled as Casey-South Melbourne slumped to 5-12 before rallying.

Footscray fast bowler Jordan Buckingham. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Buckingham has been forced to shoulder more responsibility in 2020-21 with star recruit Jackson Coleman limited to two appearances (for a return of five wickets).

“He’s had a really good year. He’s probably learning a new role of leading the attack and has probably found it hard to get a lot of wickets this year, just because other teams are sitting on him now. They know he’s our lead spearhead fast bowler,” Kight said.

“He definitely doesn’t get any cheap wickets – every wicket he gets he has to work hard for.

“On a pitch that was pretty conducive to new-ball bowling, he reaped the rewards.”

Earlier, Kight (37) and Winter-Irving (39) combined for a 70-run stand to rescue the Dogs after they slipped to 5-27.

The rearguard proved enough for the club to claim its first win since January 26, Kight conceding relief was the overwhelming emotion.

But Footscray again lost wickets in clumps and sit in 13th position with five wins – 14 points outside the top eight – despite the victory and needs to win its remaining four games to have any chance of figuring in April.

“We’ve addressed the fact we’ve let it be out of our hands now,” Kight said.

“We’ve got two home games in a row coming up and every game this year is winnable, just as much as it is loseable.

“We know we can’t look too far ahead and we can’t think of it as we’ve got to win every game to make finals, we’ve just got to try play week-to-week.

“We can’t play finals anyway if we don’t play our best cricket, so that’s a long way off for us.”

Kight said Footscray was confident it had the right personnel to prosper.

He said it had battled to adapt to a season of one-day fixtures after finishing the regular rounds in second position in 2019-20.

“We’re happy with the players we’ve got,” Kight said.

“We probably didn’t clue on quick enough that we were just playing a 50-over season and we haven’t adjusted quick enough, as opposed to the other teams we’ve played.”

The Dogs will next tackle Frankston Peninsula in Round 14.