By Tyler Lewis
As far as modern day wins go…there will be few better than the one Casey-South Melbourne secured on Saturday.
Despite winning eight of their last 10 coming in – including seven on the bounce – the Swans were given little chance against the highly-fancied St Kilda side.
The Saints had just one blemish to their name in a stellar season, and when Ashley Chandrasinghe was a late out due to a finger concern, they were backed further.
But as it has done all year, when doubted, this Casey-South Melbourne unit delivered.
Nathan Lambden dismissed the dangerous Michael De Iacovo (6) and Jono Merlo (11) in quick succession, before Devin Pollock held on to a low-diving catch off the bowling of Jackson Fry and the blade of Patty Rowe (5).
The Saints seemed to build off Ed Newman (32) and skipper Adam Crosthwaite (19), but when Newman departed at 4/74, Crosthwaite soon followed, reasserting the Swans back ahead of the ledger with the home side 5/76.
It seemed everything the Swans touched would turn to gold, with all five bowlers collecting a scalp.
Along with Lambden (3/33 off eight), off-spinner Luke Shelton was tremendous with 3/20 off 10, as the Swans bowled the seemingly untouchable St Kilda outfit for 116.
Chandrasinghe’s absence was felt early, when Lachie Sperling’s (0) promotion to the top of the order was short lived.
Luke Manders (38) and captain Michael Wallace (32) worked extremely hard to put on 66, but when Wallace was dismissed by Todd Murphy, the heart-rates of the Swans faithful rose.
From 1/66 to 5/82, the Swans had lost 4/16 in an instant.
It got even tighter after an 18-run partnership scooted the visitors to 5/100, when Ruwantha Kellepotha, Devlin Webb and Chris Benedek all departed for the addition of just four runs.
The Swans were 8/104 and seemed to be on the cusp of throwing away a golden opportunity.
But in his 100th First XI match for the club, Nathan Lambden stepped up when his side needed him most.
He walked out to bat in pursuit of 13 elusive runs and struck one of the most important nine not outs of his career, carving two fours, including the winning runs off the bowling of Saints speedster Henry Thornton.
The Swans passed the Saints score with 13 balls to spare in the nail-biting finish.
Casey-South Melbourne has a rich history with seven First XI premierships.
But with the last of those flags coming in 1969/70, the Swans have been short of modern day success.
Head-coach Will Carr believes this win is certainly up there as one of the clubs better Casey Fields era wins.
“I have only been involved in the club for a short period of time, and it’s got a long and proud history with a lot of success along the way, but certainly in recent times it’s as big a win the club has seen since moving to Casey Fields,” he said.
“I think it is the first finals win of any kind for the club in 23 years.
“I think that in itself sort of speaks of the significance of the win.
“To add the opposition, the location, the occasion, it has to rank pretty highly I would’ve thought.”
On the surface, the Swans were seemingly cantering, but with a difficult wicket to bat on, Carr never felt his group was safe.
“We were 1/66 but we certainly weren’t coasting,” he said.
“St Kilda came really hard at us, they bowled exceptionally well as a unit, they were all over us.
“The wicket wasn’t the easiest to bat on… that’s the challenge of trying to prepare a wicket whilst a Shield game is going on at the same time.
“Batsmen would’ve never felt in, even when Manders and Wallace had the partnership, you never felt like they were in total control.
“Once Wally and Manders departed, the nerves elevated a fair bit, with each wicket that fell they kept rising.”
The Swans will now host Richmond in a home preliminary final on Saturday, and fittingly, the Tigers are the last side the Swans lost to nine weeks ago.
The winner will take on either St Kilda or Carlton at The Albert Ground the following Saturday.
PRELIMINARY FINALS FIXTURE
Casey-South Melbourne v Richmond – Casey Fields 10:30am
Carlton v St Kilda – Princes Park 10:30am
