Casey South Melbourne followed up a 57-run loss on Saturday with a tie against Essendon on Sunday to sit ninth on the Vic Premier Cricket ladder seven games into the season.
Partnerships of 85 and 111 put Casey firmly on the back foot on Saturday as Fitzroy-Doncaster scored 3/253, led by a century to Canadian international Matthew Spoors.
Jackson Isakka (71) and Yash Pednekar (41) showed resistance in the middle order, but after losing both openers early, the Swans then lost wickets in two separate clumps across the run chase to fall well short.
On Sunday, skipper Ash Chandrasinghe scored a busy, unbeaten 40, forming important partnerships with Pednekar and Harry Hoekstra to guide the hosts to 5/135.
With time lost to rain, Essendon needed 128 off 19 overs to win, but fell one run short, with the match finishing in a climactic tie.
Opening bowler Akshay Ramkumar took 4/18 off his full allotment of overs, while Finlay Gordon took 2/25 including a wicket off the last ball of the match to ensure the teams split the points.
Casey-South Melbourne’s Second XI lost both its matches, falling short by six wickets against Fitzroy-Doncaster despite an unbeaten half century to Nicholas England, before a rain-interrupted loss to Essendon.
The Third XI suffered a 67-run loss with wicket-keeper Will Halton’s 73 in a run chase of 207 the shining light as the Swans fell 67 runs short.
The Fourth XI side was also beaten despite Lachlan Paul’s unbeaten 78 leading the way as they set 3/157.
