To them it is an institution, which can bind communities.

And they should know, their involvement with the club spans four generations.

Tomorrow, Stuart and Craig Boyd will put on the whites for the 200th time with the Bulls — a feat brother Mark accomplished two weeks ago.

“It’s great being able to play with your brothers,” Mark said yesterday.

“That’s the best thing about it.”

A year ago the cricket club faced its greatest challenge, which could have easily stood in the way of the Boyds achieving their milestone games.

The Black Saturday fires charred the Pomborneit Recreation Reserve’s outfield and boundary fence and melted external fixtures on its pavilion and the blaze tore through 1300 hectares.

“It was big shock and shook the club up a bit — but it also brought us closer together,” Mark said.

“Players just didn’t help rebuild the club, but families of players and their friends also pitched in and now the ground is looking fantastic.

“We worked on it a fair bit in the off-season and have been able to play on it all year.

The Boyds father Brian played for the Bulls, as did their grandfather Geoff and their great grandparents helped form the club more than 100 years ago.

Despite the strong family connection, the brothers were late starters to make the Bulls’ senior side.

Craig and Mark played their junior cricket with Pomborneit but took a break from the sport in their mid teens to play tennis.

Mark, a dairy farmer, enjoyed his time with the racquet but it didn’t take long for him to be drawn back to the willow.

“I enjoyed playing tennis but my brothers were playing cricket and I had heaps of mates playing for Pomborneit so I came back to playing cricket.

“Our older brother Rodney used to play too.”

Mark and Stuart played mainly two-day games in their first years in the senior ranks. It was different for younger brother Craig who played one-day games in his early days.