Playing Up by David Warner Read Free Book Online Page A

won’t bowl today,’ he told Davey. ‘I’ll get you to field at third slip.’
    Davey nodded.
    â€˜You okay?’ Steve asked.
    Davey opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. He couldn’t remember ever having felt this nervous.
    â€˜You can do it, Squirt,’ Steve said. Then he added, ‘Just don’t mess up.’
    As the opening batters approached the wickets, Davey took up his position.
    His palms felt too wet and his mouth too dry. He stretched lightly on the spot, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, keeping his legs light and spry. It helped a little to have Steve’s belief in him, but at the end of the day he was on his own.
    Davey concentrated hard and tried to ignore the bowling ball in his stomach. He was going to do all he could to hold his own in the under-fourteens and, failing that, just stay alive.
    The openers made a solid start, but off the fourth ball of the fifth over, Steve got one to duck away. The Skiffs’ opening batter, Karesh, was drawn wide and his attempted drive only managed to get a thick edge. Davey flung himself to the right, stuck out his hand. He was as stunned as Karesh that he somehow managed to hold on to the edge. One wicket down.
    â€˜Not too shabby, bro!’ Steve yelled. He ran over to give his brother a hug. Even Jerome gave Davey a nod of respect.
    It was a start, but Shimmer Bay continued to bat well. Davey saw little action again until Josh came out as number four, at the fall of the next wicket. Davey was surprised that Josh batted so high in the order in this grade, and burned to get him out. Josh made a point of flashing Davey a big smile every time he scored a run – and that was too often. It was infuriating, but Davey grudgingly had to admit it – the guy could play.
    Although he’d lost a couple of partners, Josh was batting really well and scoring quickly. With his own score on forty-six, he was shaping up to take the game away from them.
    Then he edged one past the slips, down towards the third-man boundary. Daveychased from third slip with everything he had and more. He thought he might throw up from the effort, but ran hard all the way. He picked the ball up just inside the boundary, turned and threw in one motion. The return was right over the stumps and Danny the wicketkeeper took the bails off. Josh had been looking to keep the strike, but didn’t make his ground. He was run out!
    â€˜I kept my eyes open that time,’ Davey said with a big smile when Josh passed him on his way off the field.
    â€˜Warner . . .’ Josh muttered as he left. He looked furious.
    The lower-order batters for the Skiffs kept the runs going and, at the end of their twenty-five overs, they were eight down for 128 – a challenging total.



It was the Saints’ turn to bat, chasing 129 runs to win.
    They lost two early wickets, but Steve went in at number four and their captain was in good form. He helped them reach sixty-five with only four wickets down. Davey tried not to get too excited. If they kept going at this rate, they should win.
    But you never knew how quickly the tide could turn. The Skiffs’ fast bowler, Zane, came back into the attack for a few overs and caused a collapse. The Saints lost four wickets for very few runs.
    Davey was next in. He was batting at number ten. He picked up Sunil’s bat. It wasn’t Kaboom, but it was the closest thing he had.
    â€˜Go, Davey!’ his dad shouted. Davey’s stomach did another flip and he concentrated on taking deep breaths as he approached the pitch.
    Steve was the other batter. The situation was dire. They had enough overs left, but still needed fifty-nine runs to win, with only two wickets standing.
    â€˜Try to give me all the strike and I’ll get the runs,’ Steve advised. ‘You just have to stick around and grind this out.’
    â€˜I’ll grind you out,’ Davey said firmly. ‘Put a