IT WAS a four-hour trip, but it takes more than mere space and time to stop three local boys meeting with the cricketing gods.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Brothers Darcy (12) and Bevan Foxall (10), as well as mate Ben Schofield (10), travelled to Sydney last Friday for the battle between Big Bash League's Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.
With team loyalties divided - Ben and Bevan wear Sydney's pink, while Darcy wouldn't be seen dead in anything but Perth's orange - tension was high as the game ran down to the wire.
Mum Trish Foxall remembers the game's final moments.
"It was a really exciting game," she said. "It went down to a superover, which Perth won."
"Darcy was extremely happy. [The others] were disappointed, but they got over it."
Also on the cards was a meeting with former Young local and Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon, still dripping with the glory of Australia's Ashes victory.
"They were so excited," Ms Foxal said. "This was Bevan and Darcy's first time meeting him."
The boys also rubbed shoulders with retired Australian fast-bowler Brett Lee and Sixers' stars Mark Cosgrove, Daniel Smith and Jordan Silk.
Asked if the boys played cricket themselves, Ms Foxall was emphatic.
"Oh yes," she said.
It's hard to capture on the page, but Ms Foxall's voice intoned early mornings, long drives in the car and weekends in the grandstand.
Such is life for the parents of cricket fanatics.