Last Saturday saw Dean bludgeon his way into the ACT Cricket record books after belting 300 not out against Ginninderra on the first day of Queanbeyan’s two-day match at Kippax Oval.

In doing so, Dean became just the second player in the history of ACT grade cricket to notch a triple century after Queanbeyan great Peter Solway achieved the feat against ANU in the 1989/1990 season.

Dean’s remarkable knock came just four days after his standout performance against the West Indies in last week’s Prime Minister’s XI clash.

And Dean’s timing couldn’t have been better as the 28-year-old attempts to nail down a long-elusive state contract. 

The past two weeks have seen cricket luminaries the calibre of former test skipper Ricky Ponting, West Indian opener Keiran Pollard and Kiwi great Chris Cairns all speak to Dean’s Big Bash potential.

 “All the attention has been quite overwhelming…it’s all a bit of a blur at the moment,” Dean said. “It was a funny day [on Saturday], I was just trying to bring myself back down to earth from Tuesday and I guess it was just my day and things went right for me.

“I don’t really feel like I’m hitting the ball now any better than I have for the past few years, it’s just good timing with the PM’s game and being able to back that up with some good runs.

“A lot of the time all it takes is to play well in the right place and the right time and people will take notice.”

Dean’s triple-century effort against Ginninderra was all-the-more remarkable considering the big-hitting opener reached the milestone in just 88 overs of play, powering Queanbeyan to 7 dec 458.

The run-a-ball effort included 21 fours and 17 sixes and ironically came at a venue at which Dean has traditionally struggled to score at in the past.

“I haven’t scored a great deal of runs at Ginninderra before which was made public in Saturday’s [Canberra Times] before the match so that’s kind of funny in hindsight,” he said.

Importantly, Dean’s knock has also placed Queanbeyan in sight of what could prove a crucial outright victory against Ginninderra who will resume on Saturday at 0/10, needing another 448 runs to make Queanbeyan bat again.