by David Warner
There was one ball to go. George bowled a flipper. This time the batter misjudged the length. The ball struck the wicket with a thunk, sending the bails flying.
‘Out!’
The umpire raised his index finger.
Phew, Davey thought.
CHAPTER 7
PRACTICE IMPOSSIBLE
Before going to sleep that night, Davey had a chat with Ricky Ponting. He often talked to Ricky, whose face stared out from a dog-eared poster that was stuck to the wall behind his bed. Someone (Sunil) had climbed up and drawn a pointy beard on Ricky’s chin and coloured in two teeth. But while the poster was fading, the Test cricketer’s smile never did.
Davey was still smarting from his duck that morning, not to mention the dropped catch. If it hadn’t been for George, who’d kept his cool under pressure, the Sluggers would have lost the match and possibly their equal second place on the ladder.
Now, as Davey lay in bed, he turned his head on a funny angle and looked up to Ricky for advice. Should I give up on my secret weapon? He stared hard at the face above him, so hard that his eyes began to water and he couldn’t focus. Suddenly there was a flicker, and Davey could have sworn he saw his hero wink. Or was it a trick of the light?
‘ ’Night.’ His mum was at the door. ‘Someone wants to come in.’
Max leapt onto the bed and licked Davey all over his face. It was disgusting.
‘Get off!’ Davey gave the dog a push.
‘Everyone drops catches occasionally,’ his mum said, reading his mind. ‘And even though it didn’t work today, I reckon you’ll get that switch hit thing working, with a bit more practice.’
She bent down and gave him a kiss that was much nicer than Max’s.
‘Now, I meant to tell you,’ she said, ruffling his hair. ‘I’ve volunteered for us to help out at Uncle Vernon’s nursing home after school for the next week or so. We’ll give all the old people a cup of tea and have a chat with them. Nothing too hard, and it makes such a difference to their day.’
‘But—’
‘You’ll still have plenty of time to play cricket before school and at lunchtime, won’t you?’
‘Yeahhh,’ Davey said, with his fingers crossed.
His mum gave him another kiss. ‘So, off to sleep,’ she said, switching off the bedside lamp. At the door she stopped. ‘What does Ricky think about your secret weapon?’
‘He reckons I should keep at it.’
‘See?’ she said. ‘Practice makes perfect.’
Davey’s secret weapon may have been looking pretty ordinary, but Sandhill Flats Primary had never looked so good. Thanks to the efforts of 6M while on lunchtime detention, the playground, storerooms, hall and library had all been tidied, cleaned, sorted and organised. Bella Ferosi had quickly taken charge, displaying quite a talent for giving orders.
Some students worked hard. Davey Warner, Sunil Deep, George Pepi and Kevin McNab were not among them. It was only when Mr Mudge asked for volunteers to weed and water the petunias outside Mrs Trundle’s office that the boys showed any enthusiasm, hurriedly raising their hands. Given the job involved a hose, it might just be fun.
Mr Mudge narrowed his eyes. ‘Can I trust you lot?’ he said.
‘Yes, Mr Mudge,’ they replied in unison.
‘Mmm. Mo, you can go too.’ Mr Mudge looked at Bella. ‘Ms Ferosi, you too. You’re in charge. If any of these boys give you trouble, report them to me.’
‘No problem, Mr Mudge.’ Bella flicked her ponytail so hard it hit Davey in the eye.
Soon they were armed with gloves, garden forks and a bucket and heading for the petunia garden, Bella leading the way.
‘Be careful to pull out only the weeds,’ she instructed as she handed out the tools. ‘The petunia plants have these big flowers on them and look like this.’ She pointed. ‘Now, let’s get started.’
Davey reluctantly bent down and prised a weed out of the hard grey dirt. When he turned to throw it in the bucket, he saw that Bella was texting on her phone. ‘Are you going to help?’ he asked.
Bella gave her head a little shake, sending a shiver down her ponytail. ‘I’m allergic to dirt,’ she said.
Davey was already wishing he hadn’t volunteered for this job. The weeding would take all lunchtime, leaving little time for the only fun bit – the watering. His friends looked as gloomy as he did.
Suddenly Mo began to work frantically. He gave Davey a push. ‘Move over, Shorty. You’re in my way,’ he said. ‘I’ll get this job done in no time.’
The other boys stood back, amazed. Sure enough, Mo finished in minutes what would have taken them an hour.
‘Very good, Mo,’ Bella said. ‘I’ll tell Mr Mudge how you and I did most of the work.’
‘Now the watering,’ Mo said. He dusted off his hands and picked up the hose, which was connected to a tap around the corner. ‘Here, Deep.’ He handed the hose to Sunil. ‘You hold this while I turn on the tap.’
Shrugging, Sunil took the hose. Never before had Mo been so diligent and helpful.
‘Is it working?’ Mo called from around the corner.
‘No,’ Sunil called back.
‘What about now?’ Mo had never sounded so friendly.
‘Still not working.’
‘Is it blocked?’ Mo stuck his head around the corner. ‘Maybe check the end.’ His head disappeared.
Sunil couldn’t resist. He held the hose up to his eye and looked into the end. A huge spray of water hit him in the face.
‘Clouter! You’re toast!’ Still clutching the gushing hose, Sunil vanished around the corner.
Davey heard the two boys shouting. Bella looked shocked. Seconds later, Mo and Sunil reappeared, both soaked.
‘That’s it!’ Bella stamped her foot. ‘Wait till Mr Mudge hears about this!’ She stormed off in search of the teacher.
By the time Mr Mudge arrived, all five boys were dripping wet.
‘My petunias!’ Mrs Trundle had appeared in the doorway of her office. ‘Mr Mudge, what on earth is going on?’ Mrs Trundle sounded as if she thought Mr Mudge was to blame, and her eye was twitching.
Mr Mudge’s ears glowed scarlet. ‘Mrs Trundle, I must apologise. I’d hoped to surprise you. Instead, these boys have behaved disgracefully.’
Davey noticed that Mudge’s ears had now turned indigo and he was shaking. He looked like he might self-destruct at any moment. ‘You five are on morning detention as well,’ Mudge said, grinning malevolently. ‘There’ll be no time for ball games. None at all.’
Davey’s heart sank. Now his secret weapon was surely dead in the water.
CHAPTER 8
DETENTION CIRCUMVENTION
There was no way Max would be allowed to attend morning detention, so Davey locked the dog inside before grabbing his bag and helmet and pushing his bike down the side path.
As usual, he’d packed Kaboom, but now that he was on detention both morning and lunch, there’d be no time to play cricket and no time to practise his tricky switch hit at school. With only four days until the big game against the Crabby Creek Crickets, Davey had almost run out of time to get it right.
Out in the street, Sunil was loitering. He had one foot on his scooter but seemed reluctant to leave.
Davey climbed onto his bike, but he didn’t feel like going either. ‘I can’t believe we have to spend every morning before school doing more stupid jobs with Smudge,’ he groaned. ‘And now Mum’s got me sitting around with all the old fogeys at Uncle Vernon’s every afternoon. ‘When do we get to play cricket? It’s so unfair!’
Sunil was usually the man with the plan, but today he seemed defeated. ‘Yeah, it sure does suck,’ he grumbled. ‘And then to have to spend all day and all lunchtime with Smudge. It’s intolerable!’
Sunil never used words like ‘intolerable’. He was clearly upset.
‘It’ll be worse than intolerable if we’re late,’ Davey said. ‘We’d better go.’
When the boys reported to the quadrangle for morning detention, Kevi
n and George were already there. Mo was there too, kicking a football at them rather than to them. Mr Mudge, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Then the new teacher, Ms Maro, appeared around the corner. She was leading a group of Year Sixes from another class.
‘Ah, here they are,’ she said kindly. ‘Mr Mudge is training the new lawn bowls team this morning, so I offered to keep an eye on you.’ She smiled and Davey noticed what nice brown eyes she had. ‘Now, why don’t you boys give us a hand? We’re getting ready for the Welcome to Kindy showcase. There’s lots to do!’
‘Yes, Miss,’ they mumbled. Helping Ms Maro had to be better than polishing the lawn bowls set, which is what Mudge had threatened to make them do.
‘Follow me!’ the teacher exclaimed, as if they were about to embark on an Easter egg hunt in a magical forest. She led them to A playground, where a group of gymnasts wearing what looked like bandicoot ears were practising on a vaulting horse.
The school choir was also gathered and already halfway through the school song. Lead soprano Bella Ferosi was front and centre.
Still another group of students were on the grass, painting signs that said things such as ‘Kanga’s Kakestall’ and ‘Possum’s Potions’.
‘Possum’s Potions?’ Davey whispered to his friends. They all looked at each other and shrugged.
Ms Maro thought for a moment. ‘Now, boys, perhaps you’d like to stand at the back of the choir,’ she said brightly. ‘I’m sure you know the school song. If you’re not confident to sing along, just mouth the words. You know, like they do in music videos.’
Mo grumbled but did what he was told, pushing his way past Bella and into the choir’s back row.
Sunil looked at Davey, then George and Kevin. ‘Actually, Miss, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.’ He smiled so his dimple showed. ‘We’re in the school cricket team.’ He nodded in the direction of his friends. ‘And I thought we could give the kindy kids and their parents a demonstration. Get the kids interested in sport early, you know? Develop some new talent.’
Ms Maro looked at Sunil as if he were her long-lost son. ‘That’s a wonderful idea!’ she said. ‘Do you think the other team members might also join in? It’d be great to have you all there showcasing your skills!’
‘I’m the captain, so I should be able to make it happen,’ Sunil said in an authoritative voice. ‘But if it’s okay with you, we’ll start practising now. Tomorrow I’ll make sure the whole team’s here. We’ve got our own gear with us, see?’ He held up his cricket ball with one hand and pointed to Kaboom, which was sticking out of Davey’s bag, with the other.
‘Excellent, Sunil. Mr Mudge will be thrilled to hear that you boys have offered to participate!’
Ms Maro really did have nice eyes, Davey noticed. Her smile was lovely too.
‘It’s probably safer if we take it down to B playground,’ Sunil said helpfully.
‘Certainly,’ Ms Maro said. ‘Off you go!’
Davey had to hand it to his friend – he was a genius!
The boys set off, trying not to cheer until they were well out of earshot.
‘Boys!’ Ms Maro was beckoning them back.
‘I forgot to mention,’ she said, when they stood before her once more. ‘The theme for Welcome to Kindy this year is “Australian Animals”.’ She drew quotation marks in the air. ‘So everyone will be dressed as marsupials.’
Ms Maro beamed as if she’d never heard of anything more fun. ‘Why don’t you dress up as kangaroos? The kindy kids will love it!’
‘But where would we get the costumes from, Ms Maro?’ There was an odd quaver in Sunil’s voice that Davey rarely heard.
‘You can help make them! All you need are ears and tails. We’ll do the makeup on the day.’
‘PPPPFFFffffffffffff! Ha-ha!’ Mo Clouter, who had been standing in the back row of the choir scowling, was grinning like a demented pufferfish.
Ms Maro flashed Mo a warm smile. ‘I know! It’s going to be so much fun! Wait till you singers get your costumes!’
Mo’s grin became a grimace.
CHAPTER 9
SECRET WEAPONS
With Ms Maro’s blessing, Davey Warner and his friends managed to play some cricket during Monday’s morning detention.
Sunil even convinced Ms Maro to speak to Mr Mudge about allowing them to practise for the Welcome to Kindy showcase during lunchtime detention. The boys didn’t expect the new teacher to have any luck on that score, but when she visited the cricketers on Tuesday morning, she informed them that Mr Mudge had agreed.
‘I wonder what she said to convince Smudge,’ Davey whispered, as Ms Maro headed back to the relative safety of A playground.
‘I dunno,’ Sunil replied. ‘But I’m starting to think she’s tougher than she looks. Remember how she stood up to Mrs Trundle in assembly? I reckon she has some kind of secret weapon of her own.’
‘She must have. She’s got us dressing up as kangaroos . . .’
Detention was suddenly a whole lot more fun. With the whole team playing, it felt almost like a real match. Sunil, being captain, even went so far as to give Davey extra time at the crease, pounding him down the leg side so he could practise his switch hit, and letting him stay in even when he got out.
When the rest of the team complained about Davey getting all the batting time, Sunil bought them off with Whopper Chomps that he’d obtained on credit from Benny’s shop.
It was an act of extreme generosity. ‘Don’t worry, Warner,’ Sunil said when Davey fell over in shock. ‘You’ll have to pay Benny back – with interest. But first things first. You’ve gotta get this switch hit right before Saturday.’
Even Mr Mudge had a spring in his step. Like the cricketers, his new lawn bowls team were practising hard for the Welcome to Kindy showcase and were apparently showing great promise. Mr Mudge seemed more willing to overlook the minor misdemeanours of certain members of 6M. He even let slip that he’d agreed to dress up as a marsupial for the kindy welcome.
Only Mo, having been dragooned into the choir, seemed unhappy with the new arrangements. He was constantly whispering insults at Davey, and tried more than once to get him in trouble. But Davey didn’t care. He wasn’t the one having to practise lip syncing in the choir every morning.
By training on Tuesday evening, Davey’s secret weapon was starting to come together. He was finding that he was better able to judge which balls to use it on, and his timing was improving, too. But when Benny finally arrived and gathered the team around him for his pre-training pep talk, he was decidedly unenthusiastic.
‘We were lucky on Saturday and we probably didn’t deserve it. And while I don’t want to point the finger’—he pointed at Davey—‘if we’d all taken our time and not tried anything clever, we could have done a lot better.’ He looked Davey in the eye. ‘You’ve got real talent, my friend. Don’t waste it by taking silly risks. Ditch the switch, okay?’
Davey looked around at Sunil and George. Sunil’s face showed no emotion, but he gave Davey a half-wink. George scratched his nose, but Davey noticed his friend had his fingers crossed.
‘Now, I need to pop away for a short while to see—’
‘—a man about a dog,’ the Sluggers said as one.
Benny looked taken aback. ‘Yeah, that’s right. So get to it. I’ll be back to pick up the gear.’ He glanced again at Davey. ‘Remember what I said . . .’
Davey nodded, but he’d already made up his mind. Ricky said he should go for it. His mum said he should go for it. Even his big brother, Steve, who never showed any interest in the Sluggers’ fortunes, had said at breakfast that it could work. And, most importantly, Davey wanted to give it his best shot.
As soon as Benny’s car turned the corner, the boys went back to their game. Sunil was in, but when Max caught him out (again), they started at the top of the batting order. Now Davey and George were in.
Dylan, their wicketkeeper, had a turn at bowling spin.
‘Give Warner some down th
e leg side. And see if you can trick him with a googly,’ Sunil called out.
Dylan bowled a few topspinners before surprising Davey with a flipper. Then he sent one down the leg side. Davey picked it, made the switch, hit it high and ran for three.
When he was back at the striker’s end, Davey tried his switch again. It worked like a dream, and he slammed it high for four.
‘You’re getting better and better, Warner!’ George called out.
‘Yeah, good one!’ Sunil called, running over. ‘A bit more practice and it’ll be a sure-fire scare-’em-off-the-pitch secret weapon.’ He slapped Davey on the back. ‘Along with my secret weapon, those Crickets won’t have a hope!’
‘Your secret weapon?’ Davey frowned. ‘Don’t you go breaking any rules, Deep. We don’t want to be disqualified.’
Sunil’s expression was stern. ‘I’d never do anything on the field that wasn’t within the laws of cricket,’ he said in his captain’s voice.
At that moment, Ivy lobbed the ball in their direction. Davey caught it. ‘Here. Stick to this secret weapon,’ he said, handing the ball to Sunil. ‘Now, give me one down the leg side.’ He went back to his place at the crease.
Sunil bowled a bouncer. This time Davey’s switch hit was perfect, and the ball went flying into the swamp.
‘Six!’ George shouted.
Max took off at a gallop. Moments later, he dropped the ball at Davey’s feet.
‘Thanks, boy,’ Davey said, giving the dripping dog a pat. ‘Aww, Max, now you stink again!’
CHAPTER 10
COSTUME CRICKET
By morning detention on Thursday, the school cricket team’s demonstration routine for the Welcome to Kindy showcase was coming together. Davey’s switch hit was looking even better. In fact, the team were having so much fun they didn’t want detention to end.
When Davey and his friends did make it to class, Mr Mudge was so preoccupied with his lawn bowls team he not only failed to notice they were late, but forgot to mark their homework. It was a bonus for Davey and Sunil, who’d forgotten to do it.