by David Warner
Hi there,
I’m David Warner, Australian cricketer, and I’m really excited to introduce you to my next book in the The Kaboom Kid series.
Little Davey Warner is ‘the Kaboom Kid’, a cricket-mad eleven-year-old who wants to play cricket with his mates every minute of the day, just like I did as a kid.
Davey gets into all sorts of scrapes with his friends, but mainly he has a great time playing cricket for his rep cricket team, the South-East Slammers, and helping them win matches.
If you’re into cricket, and I know you are, then you will love these books. Enjoy The Kaboom Kid.
David Warner
Introduction
Chapter 1: First Test
Chapter 2: Treasure Test
Chapter 3: Sign of the Times
Chapter 4: Doppelganger Discon-Tent
Chapter 5: Dogged by Disaster
Chapter 6: Ice Cream, Mudge Scream
Chapter 7: Mismatch
Chapter 8: Spin out
Chapter 9: Treasure Pleasure
Chapter 10: Shimmer Dilemma
Chapter 11: Game, Test, Match
Chapter 12: Double Trouble
David Warner’s Amazing Stats
Your amazing cricket stats
CHAPTER 1
FIRST TEST
‘Warner? Earth to Warner! WARNER!!’
Davey Warner looked up with a start. His teacher’s nose was just millimetres from his own. But what caught Davey’s attention were the flashing red lights on either side. He sat up straight in his chair. Is it a police emergency? he wondered.
It took only a moment for Davey to realise that the red lights were Mr Mudge’s ears. They always changed colour when he was angry.
‘Time’s up and you’ve barely started on the test!’ Mr Mudge hissed into Davey’s face. The teacher’s ears were rapidly turning violet. ‘Instead, you’ve been sitting there staring out the window with an empty-headed grin on your face.’
Davey looked down at his work. It was true – he’d only answered two questions in the test. There were still ten to go.
Mudge turned to the class. ‘As usual, Warner here hasn’t been paying attention. If he had, he’d know that tests are important – very important. Instead, Warner here is off in la-la land, thinking about cricket, no doubt.’
Mudge shook his head. The colour from his ears was spreading across his cheeks. It would soon meet at his nose, Davey noticed.
Technically, Mudge was wrong. Sure, Davey hadn’t been paying attention. But he was well aware tests were important. Very important. In fact, that’s exactly what he’d been thinking about for the past half-hour. It’s just that he was thinking about a different test.
Specifically, Davey had been thinking about the Test match he and his friends from Sandhill Flats had organised for the weekend with some kids from Shimmer Bay. Two full days of cricket on the beach, ice cream, maybe a swim, and no adults to tell them what to do. What could be more perfect?
Usually they played competition cricket on Saturday, but this weekend there was no comp cricket. What’s more, Kevin McNab, one of Davey’s friends, would be able to come. On most Saturdays Kevin had to go to Vietnamese school, but that wasn’t on this weekend, either.
Then there was the weather – Davey’s best friend, Sunil Deep, had checked the forecast, and said it was going to be blue skies and 28 degrees for both days. And when Josh Jarrett, Shimmer Bay captain, agreed to pull together a team for the match, everything had fallen into place.
‘It’s like the stars have aligned,’ Sunil had pronounced.
‘WARNER!’ Mudge shouted again.
At that moment, the school bell rang. At last, the weekend had arrived!
‘Okay, time to hand your test to me.’
Davey held the paper out to his teacher.
But Mudge waved him away. ‘You can stay back and finish it, Warner,’ he barked. ‘But you’ll only get marks for the two questions you’ve already answered – if that!’
Davey sank back into his chair. Opposite him, Bella Ferosi, school captain and the most conscientious student in the history of Sandhill Flats Primary, smiled sympathetically. ‘See you tomorrow, Davey,’ she said. She gave her ponytail a flick before gathering her belongings and packing her bag.
See me tomorrow? Davey had no idea what Bella meant. He rarely saw Bella on weekends if he could help it. He was always playing cricket and she, well, he guessed she was off at public speaking classes, and ballet, and fencing, or whatever it was school captains did on weekends.
Davey looked at Bella in surprise, but the school captain nodded knowingly. ‘See you tomorrow!’ she said again, as she picked up her bag and made for the door.
‘WARNER!!!’
Davey looked down at his test and sighed. The weekend couldn’t come fast enough.
Test time! Davey woke from a dream to find his dog, Max, standing on top of him, licking his face.
‘Get off!’ he shouted, pushing Max off before leaping out of bed.
It was Saturday at last and there was no time to lose. The cricketers had agreed to meet at the beach early, so they could claim a nice big piece of sand for their Test match.
Like lightning, he changed into some old boardshorts and his favourite T-shirt. Into his backpack he stuffed his special cricket bat, Kaboom, and a couple of tennis balls. Then he raced to his piggy bank, shook out all the coins and put them into the front pocket of his pack. There was enough there to buy a few packets of Whopper Chomps, his favourite lollies, as well as an ice cream. Happy days!
Max was by the bedroom door, trying to force it open with his nose. He barked.
‘Sorry, Max, but you’re not coming,’ Davey said as he opened the door. ‘No dogs on the beach, remember?’
In fact, even if dogs were allowed on the beach, Max would be banned. He was banned from just about everywhere now. Not that he seemed discouraged, judging by the way he skittered along behind Davey to the kitchen, then stood guard by the back door.
Davey pulled on his ‘baggy green’, a faded old trucker’s cap with a picture of the Australian cricket team’s badge stuck on the front. ‘See you, Mum,’ he called.
‘Back here, young man!’ Davey’s mum was standing at the kitchen bench, shaking a packet of cereal. ‘You’re not going anywhere without breakfast.’ She held up a lunchbox and a bottle of water. ‘Or lunch!’
Davey shoved the lunchbox and water into his pack, then wolfed down the cereal as fast as he could.
He grabbed his pack and was reaching for the door handle when his mum called him back again. ‘David! Have you put on sunscreen?’ She was waving an orange bottle at him.
Davey made a face that kind of said ‘maybe’, which wasn’t true, and ‘no’, which was.
‘Back here again.’ She pointed at a spot in front of her.
Davey slunk over and his mum slathered him with sunscreen. Then she painted his nose with zinc cream.
‘Here,’ she said when she’d finished, handing him the tube and the bottle. ‘Don’t forget to reapply. I don’t want to see you as red as a cooked crab tonight, okay?’
Davey nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. Mr Mudge was right – Tests were very important. And Davey was about to play in one!
He reached again for the door. Max barked expectantly.
‘No chance, Max,’ Davey said, shaking his head. You’re not coming, remember?’
Davey squeezed through so Max couldn’t follow. As he pulled the door shut, the dog whined. He hated missing out on cricket. It was his favourite game.
‘See you tonight, Max the Menace,’ Davey shouted through the crack, before pulling the door shut. He punched the air. His first Test was about to begin!
CHAPTER 2
TREASURE TEST<
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Davey wheeled his old bike down the side path and out into the street. Sunil was there already, waiting with his Razor scooter. ‘Let’s go get Kevin and George,’ he said. ‘They better be ready. We’ve got to get to the beach early!’
They set off, but when they rounded the corner into Kevin’s street only their friend George Pepi was there, sitting in the gutter with his bike.
‘Where’s McNab?’ Sunil called as they pulled up.
‘His mum says he went out. But she reckons he’ll be back soon.’ George shrugged. ‘That was ten minutes ago.’
Sunil frowned. ‘We’ve got to keep moving. If we’re there too late, we won’t get a good spot.’
‘The others can stake out a patch,’ Davey said. ‘Josh won’t be late, and the rest of our team will be there soon.’ Davey was still on cloud nine. Nothing could go wrong today, he was sure.
‘Yeah, but I have the wickets,’ Sunil said, tugging on one of the stumps sticking out of his backpack. ‘We need to set them up to claim our spot.’
‘Don’t worry, Deep,’ Davey said, giving his friend a punch in the arm for good luck. ‘It’ll be awesome.’
At that moment, Kevin appeared at the top of the street. He was pedalling furiously and shouting.
‘What’s up, McNab?’ Sunil said. He narrowed his eyes. ‘Where have you been? We’ll be late!’
Kevin was smiling like a crazed kookaburra. ‘You wouldn’t believe it! I’ve got something amazing to show you!’ He leapt off his bike and scrabbled around in his pockets. Finally he produced a crumpled ball of paper. He held it up. ‘Check this out!’
Sunil frowned, but took the crumpled ball and proceeded to unravel it. The others gathered around to look.
‘It’s a treasure map!’ Kevin said proudly. ‘Look!’ He pointed. ‘X marks the spot.’
The map was on thick white paper and the edges had been burnt so they were jagged and brown. It was badly drawn, making it hard to tell which was the sea and which was the land. A large X was marked on what must have been land – or was it?
‘Hmm. Where’d you get it?’
Davey could tell from the tone of Sunil’s voice that his friend was suddenly very interested. So interested, in fact, that the Test match had temporarily become second priority.
‘My cousin’s best friend’s big brother. He sold it to me. But he reckons it’s real and there’s definitely pirate treasure in the sandhills behind the beach.’
‘How come no one’s found it before now?’ Sunil was doing what he called his ‘due diligence’, which he always did before putting any plan into action. He’d ask clever questions that Davey would never have thought of, to make sure everything was foolproof. That said, Davey couldn’t remember Sunil ever not putting a plan into action, whatever the results of his ‘due diligence’.
‘Because no one’s had a map until now!’ Kevin smiled smugly, as if he’d won the point.
‘Okay, good work, McNab,’ Sunil said, handing back the map and slapping his friend on the back. ‘But we still need to focus on the Test match. It’s our big chance to win against the Shimmer Bay crew. So any treasure hunting can only be done while you’re waiting for your turn to bat, okay?’
‘Of course,’ Kevin said, his face serious.
‘We’ll need a garden spade,’ Sunil said as they prepared to ride off. He was always one step ahead. ‘Anyone got one at home?’
But no one did, so they decided to borrow one from Benny, their cricket coach, who ran the corner shop. They had to go there first, anyway, to stock up on Whopper Chomps.
Unfortunately, however, Benny didn’t have a spade to lend – at least, that’s what he told them. ‘Barb broke the handle when she was weeding the garden out the front,’ he said, pointing.
The boys all turned to look, but they knew there was no garden out the front, unless you counted the dandelions growing between the cracks in the concrete.
‘I can sell you a spade,’ Benny said, smiling. He dragged himself off his stool and shuffled over to a stand where a few beach toys were on display. He pulled off two bucket and spade sets and tossed them onto the shop counter. ‘Here you go,’ he said. ‘I’d recommend you get two. Double the digging. I’ll even give you a five per cent discount.’
‘But they’re plastic . . .’ Davey pointed out.
Benny shrugged. ‘They’ll do the job.
‘Well, we don’t need the buckets,’ Kevin said.
‘Yeah, but who wants to buy a bucket without a spade?’ Benny made a sad face. ‘I can’t break up the sets. Sorry, fellas.’
The cricketers gathered around to count their money. They didn’t have enough for both a good supply of Whopper Chomps and the buckets and spades.
Luckily, Benny was nothing if not helpful. ‘I’ll give the buckets and spades to you on hire-purchase, then,’ he said kindly.
‘What’s that?’ George asked.
‘You pay me some of the money now and you get to take the buckets and spades. The rest of the money you pay bit by bit, until you’ve paid it all. Plus interest, of course.’
‘What’s interest?’ Kevin asked.
Sunil answered. ‘More money.’ He scrunched up his face while he thought. Then he nodded. ‘Yep, okay. We’ll take it on hire-purchase. The way I see it, if we find the treasure, we’ll have plenty of money to go around. You have to take a risk in this business.’
He’s starting to sound like Benny, Davey thought.
So everyone pulled out their money and laid it on the counter. Benny and Sunil counted it up and discussed terms. But time was ticking away. When Davey looked through the shop’s screen door, he could see the sun was getting higher in the sky.
At last everything was arranged. Soon the cricketers were off in a flash and riding towards the beach. The Test was about to begin!
CHAPTER 3
SIGN OF THE TIMES
The boys chained their bikes and scooters to the bike racks near the surf club, then hurried over to the kiosk, where they’d agreed to meet the others.
There they found Ivy Mundine and Tay Tui eating ice creams. The rest of the Sandhill Flats team were lined up in front of the kiosk window, jangling coins in their pockets.
‘Davey! Sunil!’ Tay called. ‘The ice cream’s on special today! Only fifty cents!’ Tay had dripped chocolate ice cream down the front of her T-shirt and Ivy had cookies and cream smeared on her cheeks.
‘We’ve already spent our money on Whopper Chomps and spades,’ Davey said a little sadly. He really really liked ice cream, even for breakfast – especially for breakfast.
‘Spades?’ Tay raised her eyebrows.
‘McNab reckons there’s treasure in the sandhills. He’s got a map and everything,’ Davey pointed towards Kevin, who was staring longingly as the other cricketers collected their ice creams one by one.
Tay’s eyes widened and Davey could see she was about to ask a million questions.
But Sunil interrupted just in time. ‘I was hoping you and Ivy might have grabbed a spot on the beach by now,’ he said in his captain’s voice.
Tay grinned, revealing chocolatey teeth. ‘We were about to. Then the kiosk opened and we found out about the ice cream.’
She pulled her phone out of her pocket with her spare hand and aimed it at the boys. ‘Smile!’ she said, snapping a photo. ‘Ivy and I are official photographers this weekend. So look your best!’
Sunil raised his eyebrows, then looked from left to right. ‘Any sign of Shimmer Bay?’ he said, changing the subject.
Ivy pointed past him. ‘There!’
They all turned to look. The Shimmer Bay team was crossing the car park towards them. They were all in matching beach wear – royal-blue boardshorts, shiny grey T-shirts and matching blue caps.
‘Well, they sure look the part,’ George said under his breath.
‘But can they play it?’ Davey muttered.
Josh waved. ‘Sorry we’re a bit late!’ he called. ‘Caspar had a French horn lesson.’
‘Oh, ice cream!’ Josh said when he reached them.
Her mouth full, Ivy could only point at the sign by the kiosk window.
Shimmer Bay’s best fast bowler, Lydia Limone, punched the air. ‘Fifty cents! Yum!’
And the whole team scuttled over to join the growing line of kids in front of the kiosk window.
Sunil pursed his lips. ‘So you’re all here, Jarrett?’
Josh looked across from his place in the queue. ‘All except one,’ he said. ‘He’s a new player. Mikey. I call him our “secret weapon”.’ He grinned like a well-fed shark. ‘He’ll be here soon. His dad’s dropping him off.’
Secret weapon? What’s Josh on about? Davey wondered. Cricket’s Mr Perfect did tend to exaggerate . . .
‘Secret weapon, eh?’ Sunil sounded as doubtful as Davey felt. He turned. ‘Come on, Warner, it’s getting late. Let’s go grab a good spot away from the flags.’
Davey nodded. Even though he loved ice cream, especially for breakfast (and morning tea), he liked cricket more. So he turned on his heel and went after Sunil.
George and Kevin followed, dashing past Davey and Sunil to the top of the sandhill for a view of the beach.
‘Oh no!’ Davey heard George shout.
‘You’re joking!’ Kevin screeched.
Davey and Sunil looked at each other, then ran to their friends. At the sandhill’s summit, they stopped and surveyed the scene.
Sunil let out a hissing sound like a deflating tyre.
Davey suddenly felt like he was being ground into the sand by a giant squid.
What they’d expected to see was the long, broad, golden curve of Sandhill Flats beach dotted with a sprinkling of brightly coloured umbrellas, a few happy souls frolicking in the foamy breakers watched over by a handful of bronzed lifesavers.
What they did see, instead, was almost too awful to think about.
What they saw was the long, broad golden curve of Sandhill Flats beach buried beneath a thick coat, like hundreds and thousands, of people in brightly coloured rashies and matching caps, busily erecting tents and sun shelters, setting out markers, shouting through loudhailers, marching in straight lines and generally occupying every single grain of sand. It was the junior lifesavers, better known as –