By David Nagel
Only a handful of players have the talent and inner belief to walk out to the crease – pump out the chest – and rag-doll a game of cricket by the scruff of the neck.
Kooweerup (2/140) captain Chris Bright is one of those rare commodities and he reminded us all of his immense skill and power with a bludgeoning – match-winning – 84 not out against reigning premier Cardinia (139) at Gunton Oval on Saturday.
The raw statistics speak for themselves – 84 runs from just 54 balls, with 14 of those either blazing through – or sailing over – the normally hard to penetrate boundaries at the Bulls’ fortress.
Bright’s 10 fours and four sixes, all struck over the fence within six scoring shots through the middle stages of his innings, took the Demons to victory with a whopping 16 overs to spare.
Bright was on the cusp of a magnificent century, but fell via the only means possible – a run out – after a deft cut to backward point resulted in a mix-up with Lachie Ramage (24 not out) with the Demons on 1/105.
Adam McMaster (19 not out) continued the carnage, crunching two sixes and a four, as the Demons secured victory at a rate of 5.83 runs per over.
Bright and his Demons will never be able to take back what took place at this very venue back on 27 March this year – when the Bulls defeated the Demons to take home the 2020/21 crown – but Saturday’s victory provided some statements.
The Demons are hungry, probably more so than at any stage in their recent decade of dominance…and prolonged success in 40-over cricket is fragile.
The Bulls have their stars – their biggest and brightest, Jake Prosser, was missing on the weekend – but so too does dangerous opposition this season.
Names like Bright, McMaster, Mathers – Avery, Hussey, O’Hare – and Smith, Tormey and Williams, can take things away in an instant!
The Bulls are still top dogs, and rightly so…but if Bright holds this sort of form – good luck stopping the Demons.
It would be unjust not to mention how the first half of the day’s play panned out, with Kooweerup’s much-vaunted pace-attack winning the battle against the Bulls’ top-order.
The first five wickets to fall all succumbed to pace with Adam McMaster (4/15 off 7.2 overs) bowling three maidens in a destructive spell of fast bowling while the ultimate big-game performer – Jess Mathers (2/29) – was back doing what he does best.
Leigh Paterson (34) and Nathan Volpe (31) chimed in with a valuable 58-run stand, but the Demons took the last four wickets for 13 runs to take momentum into their reply.
The rest, as they say…is history!
Jack Bacon (1/22) was the only successful bowler for the Bulls, with Bright targeting Matt Welsh (0/28 off 3) and Lachie Volpe (0/50 off 6) in particular.
The Bulls stay at home this week, hosting on a red-hot Tooradin, while the Demons return to their own fortress at Denhams Road to take on bottom-side Carlisle Park Vikings.
