By LIAM TWOMEY
LEADING into the Premier Cricket season, Footscray Edgewater’s Dean Russ and Wes Robinson were readying themselves for a changed 2012-’13.
Russ was taking over as first XI captain from the departing Travis Gloury while Robinson had relocated from Western Australia after an impressive first-class career with the Warriors.
The pair came together at the top of the Bulldogs’ batting line-up for round one and there has been no looking back since as they have gone about dismantling bowling attack after bowling attack.
Individually, Russ has blasted three centuries from the first 16 matches this season to sit in third spot on the overall competition run scorers list, with 608 at an average of 43.
Just two spots behind him is Robinson, who has one triple figure score for the year as well as a classy 92 against competition finals contender Carlton.
However, it is what the pair has done together which has been most damaging.
On three occasions this season they have added over 100 runs for the opening wicket stand.
But even by their lofty standards, the performance in round 16 against Ringwood was something special.
On a pitch which was reportedly “not easy for batting,” Robinson and Russ combined for an opening partnership of 259.
The mark saw the pair forever engrave themselves into Footscray Edgewater history with the highest opening wicket stand, replacing the previous best of 212, a record which has stood since the 1968-’69 season.
They weren’t done with yet though and went on to break the all-time highest partnership record for the Bulldogs.
Footscray Edgewater president Geoff Collinson said excitement levels were buzzing around the club as the score continued to grow.
“It is a testimony to their ability and concentration to be able to do something like that,” he said.
“We were texting all the old players and some of the greats of the club as it was going on, saying they were breaking the record so it was all quite an exciting day. All the past players were involved and informed with text messages which I guess is a modern way of doing it.
“The opening record which they passed was by the great Ken Eastwood and a gentleman called Bill Dodd. It is a long-standing and well-known record at the club.”
With the total continuing to grow, Russ was the first to blink, after he was bowled by Patrick Ashton for 108.
Robinson went on to make 161 before he too was bowled by Ashton with the score at 291.
The Bulldogs went on to post a mammoth total of 3/366 from 90 overs.
Robinson said it was a great feeling to reach the milestone and believes the secret to the pair’s success is their ability to work together in the middle.
“We had a lot of different conversations over the weekend,” Robinson said.
“Dean was facing a great spell from their opening bowlers and all the boys were really proud of him the way he fought through it. I sort of kept on him to relax and try and get through that period. Then I went through periods of trying to hit the ball too hard and you need someone there to pull you back into line and that’s what he (Dean) did.
“He just said don’t worry about the scoreboard or any other things, if we just keep batting and batting and batting, runs will come and that’s what we did and the partnership just grew from there.
“When he got going I was very conscious of trying to get him on strike and then when I got going, he really rotated the strike well.”
The club plans to celebrate the achievement with a special award at the Bulldogs’ presentation night later this year.
