Representative Clash Read online

  ‘Definitely.’ Molly smiled and placed her hand on Tommy’s shoulder. ‘See you at school tomorrow.’

  ‘Thanks, Molly.’ Tommy grinned, feeling his face blush.

  ‘Tommy, you got an absolute cracker.’ Dan Christian was standing in front of Tommy with his arm extended.

  ‘Hey Dan,’ Tommy said as he shook his hand, hoping he didn’t sound as glum as he felt.

  ‘Chin up, Tommy. Your strike rate for Bellerive is sitting at a modest 1200. Of course you’re disappointed, but this game’s a team game. It’s all about sticking together and cheering your mates on. Now get yourself into the dugout and start supporting your team.’

  ‘You bet,’ Tommy said, feeling even better. The brief chats with Ralph and Molly had already lifted his spirits.

  Tommy re-joined the team and barracked as loud and hard as any of them, but it wasn’t enough to get the Hobart team over the line. The final Hobart wicket fell with the score on 136.

  Three more sixes and we could have done it, Tommy thought to himself, following his teammates onto the ground to shake hands with the Adelaide players.

  ‘Mate, for a moment I thought I was living in a nightmare,’ a tall brown-haired girl with zinc all over her face said. It was the bowler who’d got Tommy out. Tommy grinned as they shook hands.

  ‘That was the best ball.’

  ‘And that was the cleanest hitting,’ the girl replied.

  After the presentations, the players were all invited to one of the stands for afternoon tea. They each had their own seat behind a huge glass wall to watch the WBBL game. At the change of innings the loudspeaker crackled.

  ‘Tommy King?’ an announcer called. Everyone in the ground could hear. ‘Please report to the Hobart Hurricanes dressing room.’

  ‘Tommy, they’ve signed you up already,’ Amber shrieked, clapping her hands in delight.

  ‘Please bring your bat,’ the announcer added.

  ‘Haha, I reckon they have,’ the Adelaide fast bowler joked, patting Tommy on the back.

  Just then an official rushed in. ‘Tommy?’ she asked.

  ‘Right here,’ Tommy said, picking up his gear.

  ‘Okay, great. Follow me, please.’

  Tommy had to jog to keep up with the lady, but finally they arrived at the Hobart Hurricanes dressing room.

  ‘Ah, Tommy,’ Dan Christian said, walking over to him. ‘Sorry to drag you away, but I wanted to ask a favour.’

  ‘Um, yeah sure, Dan.’

  ‘Can I borrow your bat?’

  Tommy’s eyes lit up. ‘My bat?’

  ‘Yeah, is that okay?’

  ‘Of course.’ Tommy grinned, pulling it out of his bag and passing it over. ‘No worries.’

  ‘Thanks, mate. I’ll get it back to you, no probs. I’ll bring it back to Mount Lofty, yeah?’

  ‘Yeah, for sure.’

  Tommy re-joined his family for the Big Bash game between the Hobart Hurricanes and the Adelaide Strikers. While the Adelaide Strikers piled on the runs, he re-told the story of Dan Christian wanting to use his bat.

  The crowd was in a festive mood as the huge flood lights took effect. A late flurry of wickets had reduced the target for the Hobart Hurricanes to a manageable 159 runs, but when Tim Paine, George Bailey and then Jonathan Wells were all dismissed in the space of two overs, the tide had turned and an Adelaide Strikers victory was looking more and more likely.

  ‘It’s not over yet,’ Tommy said, as Dan Christian strode to the crease. He was swinging his arms in wide circles, Tommy’s magical bat firmly gripped in one hand.

  CRACK!

  His first ball flew over wide mid-off, landing ten rows back and into the outstretched hands of a man in a purple shirt.

  ‘Take that,’ Grandpa King hollered, clapping his hands.

  ‘Grandpa, I think Dan Christian wouldn’t mind a few bats just like that one,’ Tommy said.

  ‘Don’t even go there,’ Tommy’s dad said, rolling his eyes.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Tommy, as Dan smashed the next delivery through point and out to the fence for four.

  ‘We’ve had a Hobart Hurricanes official up here already. Your grandpa might have just become the oldest employee of the ’Canes!’

  The magical bat kept on swinging and connecting. At the start of the final over, the Hobart Hurricanes only needed five runs to win.

  ‘That’s coming our way,’ Ali cried, jumping to her feet. But she wasn’t quick enough. In a flash, Tommy had joined her, taken a few big strides to his right before reeling in a spectacular one-handed catch.

  Tommy lay on the grass, a smile on his face.

  Just like in the backyard, he thought. Taking catches against the side of the house off my own bat.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Penguin Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  Big Bash League 7: Representative Clash

  ePub ISBN – 9780143782322

  First published by Random House Australia in 2017

  Text copyright © Penguin Random House Australia 2017

  Branding copyright © Cricket Australia 2017

  Illustrations copyright © James Fosdike 2017

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  A Random House Australia book

  Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.penguin.com.au

  Addresses for the Penguin Random House group of companies can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com/offices

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Panckridge, Michael, 1962–

  Title: Representative Clash [electronic resource]

  ISBN: 978 0 14378 232 2 (ebook)

  Series: Big Bash League; 7

  Target Audience: For children

  Subjects: Cricket stories

  Sports – Juvenile fiction

  Cover and internal illustrations by James Fosdike

  Cover design by Christa Moffitt, Christabella Designs

  Ebook by Firstsource