Footscray Edgewater evergreen Dean Russ never ceases to amaze.
Russ has ticked over 600 runs in Premier Cricket this summer at the remarkable average of 100.3.
So when the Bulldogs needed a saviour against Essendon at Windy Hill on Saturday, it came as no surprise that Russ would be the one to deliver.
His 109 off 134 balls was his second consecutive century and fourth of the season.
“He’s taken his game to a new level, if that’s even possible,” Bulldogs captain Dylan Kight said. “He’s just getting better with age.”
For the second week running, Footscray Edgewater’s top order failed to fire. On both occasions, Russ dragged the Bulldogs out of a deep hole and to a respectable total.
At 4-44, Footscray Edgewater looked a side in all sorts of trouble before Russ combined with Kight (10) to put on 58 for the fifth wicket and breathe life into the innings.
Russ found another ally in Tim Buszard (45 off 148) as the Bulldogs started to wrest control of the day. When Russ went out, Footscray Edgewater’s score was 6-155, of which he had made 70 per cent, such was his dominance.
“He looked unbelievable at the crease today when everyone else [in the top order] found it pretty tough,” Kight said.
“He didn’t try to over-hit anything or deliberately target any bowlers, but they didn’t bowl great to him and he exploited them.”
Footscray Edgewater still needed runs from elsewhere to take the challenge up to Essendon.
But for the some breathtaking batting from the lower order, the Bulldogs would not have got anywhere near their 320 off 94.2 overs.
Buszard and Hamish Winter-Irving (29 off 78) provided the stability in the middle of the innings, the pair combining for 62 to take the score to 7-217.
Just when Essendon thought it could rip through the Footscray Edgewater tail and have some time to bat late in the day, it was stopped in its tracks by Lucas Dredge (53) and Jonah Koch (44no). The pair are better known for their bowling, but with a partnership of 91, they almost broke a 64-year club record for a 10th wicket stand, falling two runs short of a mark set in 1953-54 by NC Blundell and IC Stewart.
Dredge was dismissed in the most frustrating fashion, run out two metres short after an over-enthusiastic “yes” call from Koch.
From where the innings started to how it ended, Footscray Edgewater has reason to smile after compiling a competitive score.
“At the start of the day, if you’d said 320, we’d have been happy with that,” Kight said.
“The top order didn’t put it together for the second week in a row, so to get 320 without any damage from five of the top six puts it into perspective … 350 could’ve been on the cards and that would be getting into territory of a really dangerous score.
“Three-hundred-and-twenty is just above par so we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves.
“The first hour next week is where the game is going to be set up for either team.”
