By Nick Creely
Style, confidence and composure –it’s the perfect summation of the way Dandenong batsman Lincoln “LJ” Edwards plays.
As Dandenong stormed to 2-0 after two rounds with a seven wicket trouncing of Carlton at Shepley Oval on Saturday, LJ (100 not out) played his finest knock – a maiden Premier century that signified his arrival as a bona fide match winner.
After the Panthers sent the Blues in to bat, the early wicket of the dangerous Evan Gulbis (18), courtesy of some clever bowling by Darren Pattinson, kept the visitors under constant pressure.
Tight bowling and sharp efforts in the field kept the pressure firmly on the batting side, and were perhaps lucky to walk away with a modest total of 201 after 49.3 after a late cameo from Brayden Stepien (45).
In a well rounded bowling effort, Yarraville spinning product Akshat Buch (3/28) was once again highly impressive in the middle overs, James Nanopoulos (3/38) proved a handful to get away with his crafty variations, Jak Jowett (2/44) got some late reward for effort, while Adam McMaster (1/35) and Darren Pattinson (1/21) both looked sharp with their pace and bounce.
But the day belonged to LJ.
Coming in at 2/41 after off-spinner Tom Smyth (2/40) brought the undoing of skipper Tom Donnell (27) and Ed Newman (1) in near succession, LJ and Brett Forsyth (51) did the hard yards, and slowly resurrected a shaky start.
The pair put on 111 runs before Forsyth’s stumps were rattled by spinner Eddy O’Sullivan, but Edwards just kept going, finding gaps where there wasn’t any.
With only a handful of runs left, Edwards wasted no time getting through the 90’s, belting a ball calmly over the mid on fence to move to 96.
A nudge to mid-on brought up the glorious century only minutes later and delivered the Panthers a strong victory.
But the win – rather than the individual accolade – was all that mattered when he walked off Shepley to rousing applause.
“There wasn’t many emotions, maybe more just relief and happy I could help get the team the win,” he said.
“But yeah, obviously very happy – I didn’t really think about it until late in the chase (making a century), even in the 90’s I was telling Nano (James Nanopoulos) to just get the runs.”
Edwards said his approach was no different to any other game, despite failing to trouble the scorers in the opening round clash, and praised opener Brett Forsyth for his role in the win.
“I didn’t really approach the innings any differently to how I normally bat, I just focused on playing straight and finding the middle of the bat and when I felt comfortable playing more shots I just went for them,” he said.
“And yeah, was a relief also to get off the mark after last week, settles the nerves a little.
“Coming in after two quick wickets, there is a bit of pressure walking to the crease but it was awesome having Bretta at the other end who doesn’t really seem phased by what’s going on around him, it had a calming effect on me and allowed me to settle in.”
Since crossing over from Melbourne at the end of the 2015/16 after just 24 first XI games that included two half centuries at an average of 17.3, he has exploded at the Panthers, scoring 643 runs at 45.93.
The Panthers will now look to continue their winning start with a clash against Greenvale at Greenvale Reserve on Saturday.
