From the perfect vantage point of the WACA scoreboard, and through the twin lenses of his trusty binoculars, Brad Brider soaked in every moment of a historic chapter in Western Australian cricket.
For the first time since 1999 – since Brider was one – the Sheffield Shield was headed west.
And Brider, part of Australia's national blind men's cricket team and wearer of many hats, had been there to witness it.
"It was an awesome moment," he tells cricket.com.au. "It's been a long time. I mean, me and my friend Steffan (Nero), who's in the (Australia blind) squad as well, he lives in NSW now but for a long time we'd message each other at 7:30 in the morning when the games are started over east, and we'd 3-40 or 3-30 or worse and we'd go, 'Here we go again'.
"It was good to finally have some joy.Brider might be a lucky charm; the 23-year-old only began working in the scoreboard this season, one in which WA's men won both the Shield and the One-Day Cup, while the Scorchers did the double across the men's and women's BBL competitions.
He singles out Scorchers star Beth Mooney's Big Bash hundred as another favourite moment from his special viewing platform, where he says his older crew of colleagues make him feel welcome, and seem to enjoy "having another cricket nuffy in there to chat with".
But Brider's cricket obsession also extends to his own playing ambitions. And as he eyes Australia's forthcoming clash with New Zealand in Brisbane, he believes the time is now for him to turn his potential into performance.
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Brad Brider is on the train, heading back from the gym to his home in Joondalup in the north of Perth. Beside him, as is typically the case, sits his gold Labrador guide dog, Jaxx. The pair wait patiently to arrive at their stop.
Brider is in a buoyant mood; in a few days' time he and three of his state teammates will fly from Perth to Brisbane for a camp with the Australian squad, which will serve as preparation for this New Zealand series.
It has been a meandering road for him to reach this point, and some of it he has helped pave, a young trailblazer with a clear vision for his – and others' – future.
Back when Brider started playing for the national team, the WACA didn't have a blind squad. As well as plying his trade with Australia – as a 16-year-old, making him the country's youngest-ever blind representative, no less – he linked up with Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. It pained him though, because his heart was always with his home state.
"My whole family's actually from South Africa, including my oldest sister, but I was the first in the family to be born in Perth, and I really love it here," he says.
"It's quite an interesting one because there were a few times where I'd watch cricket and I'd feel more passionately for WA than I did Australia. Like, obviously, I want the Australian guys to win, but you feel closer to the (WA players).
"Australia's a big place, and in WA you've got your own sort of culture, I guess … we're probably a bit 'west verse the rest' sometimes
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