By Jonty Ralphsmith
Over the Christmas period, the News’ sports team will be re-sharing some of the most popular stories from over the course of 2024.
Thank you for supporting our newspapers over the course of the year. We hope you enjoy the selection and have a wonderful holiday period, however you choose to celebrate.
Legendary Kooweerup batter Chris Bright labelled Sunday’s double-century to guide the Demons’ historic chase of 409 as his career-best innings.
Kooweerup chased down a club record 409, bettering Merinda Park’s magnificent innings with 10 overs to spare.
Bright opened the batting with brother, Paul, who has been away from the First XI for the two seasons preceding 2024-25, but showed timeless class in scoring 84.
The swashbuckling stalwart has long been regarded for his ability to blunt opposition attacks with sheer power, but batting for 70 overs and wearing an attack down required a different mindset.
“Over the last couple of years I have matured as a batter and I knew on that sort of ground I could play a different role and be a bit more mature,” Bright reflected.
“Our ground is quite quick so you don’t have to go in the air all the time which paid off yesterday.”
Matt Dennerley and Tyson Bertrand opened the bowling, with the Bright brothers able to absorb their pressure before punishing the medium pacers and tweakers.
The opening partnership was worth 194 before Paul Bright fell on the stroke of tea, with Zac Davis immediately following.
“He’s one of the best openers to bat with because he’s technically correct and plays the right shot every ball,” Chris said of Paul.
“We kept ticking off little milestones like a 50-run partnership, 100 runs, 150 and it started coming quickly and we were laughing saying ‘how good’s this, two brothers enjoying each other’s company out there.
“It was really good to share it with him, I’ll always remember opening the batting with him and setting the game up.”
Having wickets in hand was the focus for Kooweerup entering the mammoth chase, with the hosts confident they could give the total a shake if they remained poised.
Sitting one down at tea represented a turning point in the momentum of the match.
“I think the responsibility of being captain-coach and with our best player (Luke McMaster) missing, I put it on myself to carry the team and lead from the front,” Bright said.
“I wanted to be the one to do that.
“I said to the boys at tea ‘we just have to bat time because I’m not going out today, so I need someone to stay with me’ and all the boys bought in.
“My whole natural game is to clear the fence and hit the boundaries but to rotate the strike for the team was what was so special about it.
“It was definitely my best innings.”
Bright also poured praise on recruit Shiran Rathanayake, who continued his fine form with a quick-fire century to put the result beyond doubt after his tweakers picked up six wickets the previous day.
“It was unbelievable watching from the other end,“ Bright said.
“He manipulated the field and relieved pressure.”
