This placed him out of calculations for representative honours, especially as Sutcliffe established himself as a representative player that year. Nonetheless, in 1925 Russell hit seven centuries and scored 2,080 runs, whilst in 1928 he scored 131 and 104 against Lancashire, who were County Champions for the third successive year that season. After an injury-affected year in 1929, Russell only played one more season before retiring to become county coach and later a groundsman. In 1949, twelve years before he died, Russell was among the first professional cricketers to be given membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).