Dylan Brasher stars in Footscray’s win over Essendon, impresses in state audition
Footscray opener Dylan Brasher continues to knock on the door of Victorian selection with a match-winning knock for Footscray and impressive state audition.
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Footscray opener Dylan Brasher delivered a timely reminder of his quality to state selectors on the weekend.
The dashing Bulldogs scored a match-winning 91 on Saturday to ensure a bonus-point, eight-wicket win over Essendon and backed it up on Sunday with an impressive 46 for a Victorian Invitational XI against the Premier Cricket All-Stars.
The season-high score at Merv Hughes Oval takes Brasher to 354 runs in just seven Premier Cricket matches, averaging 50.57, with another 116 runs in four Super Slam outings.
It comes on the back of 851 runs and a Wiese Medal in a stunning Darwin District Cricket Association campaign in the northern winter.
Footscray coach Dale McDonald was rapt Brasher had found some much-needed consistency and hoped it would be rewarded.
“He’s batting sensationally and hopefully he gets more opportunities at the Second XI stage, his consistency has been really good,” McDonald said.
“He’s got a good bromance with Sarts (Daniel Sartori), not enough gets spoken enough about Daniel, their opening partnership has been outstanding.
“To be honest he wouldn’t have gotten the hundred anyway, he needed 10 and we only needed eight as a team.
“Trav (Dean) was doing everything he could to get him on strike and the shot he played to get out was just a simple shot to mid-wicket and a good catch by (Liam) Molloy – he wasn’t going for it, just playing the team role.”
Footscray’s win was set up by its bowlers as they restricted the Bombers to 9-197.
Stand-in captain Liam Molloy top-scored with 56, while Nikhil Pottabathini showed some promising signs with 40 from 43 balls.
Brasher and Sartori (32) got Footscray’s chase off to a strong start, combing for a 65-run opening stand and captain Travis Dean (61) then helped finish it off since 40 overs to secure the bonus point.
“When you have Dylan batting as well as he has all year and he and Sarts getting off to a nice start and then Trav getting his 60 not out, it was a comprehensive win,” McDonald said.
“It was a really good bowling effort, it would have been nice to get the 10 wickets.
“(Jake Reed) Reedy coming back from injury, he probably didn’t bowl as well as he would have liked, it was nice to get some overs into him and he got the most important wicket in (Isaac) Willett.
“We gave Molloy a couple of chances and good players take advantage of those opportunities but to keep them under 200 was really good, we were really happy with that.”
The win keeps Footscray in fifth place, equal on points with Northcote and one point behind St Kilda.
A critical test against ladder-leader Carlton looms as Premier Cricket returns to two-day cricket in a Saturday-Sunday double-header.
“Obviously, finals are a long way away but in the scheme of things, we want to finish top four.
“We’ve got a really important game coming up this weekend against Carlton, they’ve been the benchmark of the competition for a long time now, and it will be a good test for us.”
On Sunday, Brasher was one of the Victorian Invitational XI’s best as it racked up 7-306 at the Junction Oval.
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Brasher (46) and fellow Bulldog Dean (53) got the team off to a strong start before Melbourne’s Fergus O’Neill (63 off 45 balls) and Geelong Liam Blackford (59 off 43) were dominant late.
The Invitational XI wrapped up a 149-run victory as the Premier Cricket All-Stars were dismissed for 157 in reply.
Melbourne skipper Blake Thomson played a lone hand at the top of the order, scoring 42 before falling to Demons teammate Fergus O’Neill (2-25).
Essendon’s Liam Bowe (29) and Northcote’s Michael Topp (23) provided some late resistance.
O’Neill, Mitch Perry (2-18), Tom O’Connell (2-39) and Xavier Crone (2-26) were the leading wicket-takers.
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