Premier Cricket: Footscray’s batsmen find form in win over Essendon

It had been a lean start to the summer for Footscray’s vaunted batting line-up, but that all changed on Saturday.

Champion Dean Russ top-scored in Footscray’s win. Picture: Hamish Blair

Two of the leading batting line-ups in Premier Cricket locked horns on Saturday.

Footscray’s batsmen had been out of nick, with opener Dylan Brasher the only player to notch a half-century in the opening three rounds of the season.

Essendon’s big three in skipper Michael Hill, James Seymour and Aaron Ayre had been in red-hot form.

But it was the Dogs who prevailed by 12 runs in a high-scoring fixture at the batter-friendly Windy Hill to improve their win-loss record to 2-2.

“We pretty much have a bat-off when we play against them,” Footscray captain Dylan Kight said.

“At Windy Hill there’s not much in the wicket and the outfield’s quick.”

The Dogs piled on 4-279 after losing the toss, with Dean Russ (84 from 106 balls) and Travis Dean (49 from 78) laying the foundations with a 92-run stand for the second wicket.

The middle order took full advantage of the platform, with Dan Sartori (58 from 50), James Muirhead (38 not out from 29) and Kight (23 not out from 17) putting the Bombers’ attack to the sword.

The dangerous Muirhead showcased his power with three sixes, while Sartori cleared the boundary twice.

It was an encouraging display after Footscray was rolled for 137 and 183 in back-to-back losses to flag rivals Melbourne University and Carlton.

“We’ve had two good, consistent batting efforts and we’ve had two really poor batting efforts,” Kight said.

“The past two weeks, having low scores on the board and not reaching 200, there was a fair bit of pressure on our batting line-up, especially losing the toss and being sent in. They (Essendon) probably knew that and we responded really well.

“Everyone’s been pretty confident that they’ve been not out of form … you can feel that way, but when the runs aren’t on the board it’s hard to justify that.

“Russy took a bit more time than he had at the start of the season, took a few more balls and started to take risks as the innings went on.

“He was huge and it was only a matter of time, but it was good for him and Sarts to get some runs before Christmas.”

Ayre and Seymour combined for a 93-run partnership in reply before the former was removed by Abhishek Beniwal.

Spinner Siddhesh Dixit then claimed the big wicket of Hill for a duck before Seymour (88) and Connor Rutland (86) took the score to 2-165.

But teenage paceman Max Birthisel grabbed the wicket of the in-form Seymour, who is averaging 165.5 this season, to put the game back in the Dogs’ favour.

“He was summing up the conditions really well,” Kight said of Seymour.

“He was able to get from 50 to 80 with pretty much singles, just knocking them around, and I’m sure he was only one or two boundaries away from going really hard. The run rate (required) got up to about seven.

“It was the first big shot he played in a while and it was a good catch by Jimmy Muirhead to get him out, so that was massive.”

While Rutland impressed by hitting five sixes in his 76-ball knock, the Bombers lost 5-30 to finish 9-267.

Dixit was Footscray’s best bowler, collecting 2-37 from 10 tight overs in a batsmen-dominated match where 546 runs were scored.

Before Saturday, he had sent down 11 overs for a return of 1-56 in 2020-21.

“He’s been working really hard,” Kight said of Dixit.

“He probably hasn’t had the start to the season he wanted with the ball, probably just because he’s over-determined.

“He didn’t have a break at all. His old man owns an indoor centre, so he’s had the longest pre-season out of everybody. He’s been raring to go and it’s probably worked against him.”

Jordan Buckingham (2-61), Russ (2-63), Beniwal (1-9) and Birthisel (1-42) were the other wicket-takers.

The Dogs will host Geelong when Premier Cricket resumes on January 9.