Marc Brilliant has been around the cricket scene for more than 25 years, with his love for the game beginning at Great Western.
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The current Swifts-Great Western player said he started playing cricket on encouragement from his mates at school.
“All my friends were playing at Great Western so I decided to go along and join in the under-16 competition, which was played on a Friday night,” he said.
The right arm bowler said it was at that time he has his first memories of cricket.
“I remember on Saturday mornings the captain would be driving up the main street and yell out, ‘Hey! You boys want a game?’. So off we would go and play,” he said.
I love playing with my mates and there are a few of us who have played together for a really long time
- Marc Brilliant
“Playing with some of the legends of the club when we were juniors was a real honour. They set a precedence for us on what is required to play which now we can pass on to our juniors.”
In the 2018-19 season, Brilliant has committed to Swifts-Great Western – his original club merged with Swifts in about 2000.
“There is a group of us who have been around the club for a long time and we play where we are needed. If it’s A Grade or B Grade, we take a position where it is required,” he said.
Around the cricket fields many people might know Brilliant by his nickname “cake”.
Brilliant laughed, “it comes from the cricket club”.
“When I first started a few of the local club legends started calling me ‘Brillcream’ after Brylcreem the hair styling products for men,” he said.
“Apparently the old guys used to stick it in their hair.”
Australian’s are infamous of shortening words or names – Brilliant’s nickname then became “creamy”.
“For some reason, the name changed again to ‘cream cake’, which was then just shortened to ‘cake’”, he said.
Brilliant has always played team sports, including football at the Stawell Warriors. He said the competitive nature of cricket was what made him don the whites every week.
“I love playing with my mates and there are a few of us who have played together for a really long time. Being on the cricket journey with them has been fantastic,” he said.
Cricket is a sport that provides players with some longevity – well after other sporting careers can come to a closure.
“Cricket is a game that can change so quickly. Unlike football where you can get well in front and the game is over, in cricket, you only need 11 good balls or someone to bat for a good 10 overs and the game can turn on its head,” Brilliant said.
“You need to concentrate 100 per cent of the time on the cricket field, that’s for sure.”
A life member of the club, Brilliant has seen many changes in cricket over the years and he attributes those to how the Australian team is performing.
“The styles of the game has changed a lot. The shorter format cricket has become more popular. Regional cricket rides the wave of Cricket Australia’s performance,” he said.
Brilliant has three young children, all girls, and with the changes in cricket, he said he was glad his children would have a chance to play within the region when they were older, if they wanted.
“My girls know what cricket is and know that Dad goes and plays cricket on a Saturday and they come down and watch,” he said.
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