What an unbelievable 24 hours in the sporting life of Werribee opening batsman Matt Dean.
The 25-year-old multi-sport talent took out the Western Region Football League division 1 best-and-fairest medal for Werribee Districts on Friday night and fronted up on Saturday to make a century for the Tigers on the first day of a new Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association season.
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“I don’t think this will ever happen again in my life,” Dean said of the unique double.
Dean has given Werribee the upper hand after day one of its clash with Kew on the road at Victoria Park.
The game was originally slated for the Tigers’ home at Chirnside Park, but had to be transferred with the Watton Street ground unavailable after hosting the WRFL finals.
Dean was not too fussed about the change, arriving to find Kew’s ground plush with favourable batting conditions.
He made 108 to be the mainstay of the Tigers strong total of 7-287 off 80 overs.
With limited preparation due to a groin injury stemming from the football season, Dean was intent on executing the basics and let the rest take care of itself.
“They bowled to my strengths a little bit and fed it from early on,” Dean said.
“As a batsman, when you get confidence, it’s ideal to start that way and my innings sort of just flowed from there. It was a pretty flat wicket and a really fast outfield, so it all worked out well for me in the end.”
It was Dean’s third ton since crossing from Geelong in the Premier Cricket.
He has fallen just short of 500 runs in the past two seasons, and this will boost his chances of cracking it this summer.
Dean admitted to tiring late on Saturday but got a pick-me-up from veteran all-rounder Heath Pritchard, who made 66 not out.
“When he came out, I was pretty much wrecked, I had no strength and no energy left,” Dean said.
“He came out and just took over, hit the ball so cleanly and was so positive, used his feet and spread the field around.”
Given the same conditions, the Tigers will still have to bowl well to defend Saturday’s score.
Dean says bowling second will help the Tigers learn from the mistakes Kew made on the first day.
“We know what areas we need to bowl now and it took them a while to work that out,” he said.
A new-look bowling attack will be rolled out for the Tigers because of a number of off-season departures and player unavailability.
Debutant off-spinner Tom Duxson, who played the bulk of his games in the thirds last summer, could be a surprise packet.
The new ball will be handed to paceman Ross Veitch, who took 23 wickets in the seconds last summer and played in the grand final.
