Premier Cricket: Behind the impressive Casey South Melbourne cameo from Mosman’s Matt Calder

Casey South Melbourne identified a need for a quick fix at the top of the order and it was able to fill the gap better than expected by calling upon an interstate recruit.

Matthew Calder

Casey South Melbourne “put out an SOS” and Matt Calder answered.

With opener Yash Pednekar sidelined with a split webbing, the Swans had a vacancy at the top of the order and needed a one-off cameo for Saturday’s back-to-back T20s.

Captain Luke Shelton put in a call to his former Mosman teammate and Calder answered in more ways than one, belting an unbeaten 103 off 54 against Ringwood before 64 off 51 against Frankston Peninsula.

Calder’s 20 fours and five sixes across the day steered the Swans to two crucial wins.

Coach Will Carr said Calder was exactly what the Swans needed to keep its strong start to the summer rolling.

“We identified that Sydney grade cricket wasn’t going back for a week and had a chat about what options we had,” he said.

“Shelts said ‘I reckon I have got the guy that can help us’, and he certainly did.

“He (Shelton) put out an SOS to him for the day and he (Calder) was happy to oblige.”

Matt Calder walks off the ground after his century. Picture: Will Carr

After leisurely pummelling some of the competition’s best bowlers around for an afternoon, one question immediately surfaced: why does he bat at no. 7 back home?

“He does usually bat higher in the white-ball format and lower in the red ball for them and they’re a strong team so he’s having a bit of trouble getting into their top four, five,” Carr said.

“He’s got a pretty good reputation in the shorter format and we wanted to keep our structure the same with Yash out, the obvious gap was the opener spot.

“We thought we’d throw him in and if he can get us a few quick ones early then that was a bonus, he delivered in spades didn’t he?”

Calder has returned to Sydney while the Swans sit four points clear of upcoming opponent Carlton at the top of the table.