Rubbing his head, he peered out the window and saw they were on a dusty country road.
‘Where are we?’ he asked groggily.
‘Almost there,’ said Shavil. ‘You fell asleep.’
Will looked down and noticed there was a string of drool hanging from his mouth and joining up with the small puddle collecting on his shoulder. He quickly wiped it away and looked around to see if anyone had noticed.
‘Very smooth,’ said Shavil, shaking his head.
A few minutes later the bus pulled into Pine Valley camp site. It was a big place, with green rolling hills on one side that led down to a beach. Tall pine trees lined both sides of the entry road.
After they climbed off the bus and collected their bags, Will and Shavil took a moment to stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at the cricket-training heaven that surrounded them.
The camp site sat alongside a traditional country cricket oval, complete with a white picket fence, grandstand and wooden scoreboard. The grass was a bright emerald green. Each blade glistened in the April sun.
In the middle of the oval, two grounds-men were flattening the pitch with a large roller. On the far side, a line of older boys were bowling into a yellow portable net while a coach tracked their bowling pace with a speed gun.
‘Wow, a speed gun,’ said Will.
‘This is so cool,’ whispered Shavil.
As they watched the bowlers fire deliveries into the net, two more buses pulled into the grounds, and out climbed more academy hopefuls.
Shavil nudged Will. ‘More girls.’
It was true. A dozen or so girls were now collecting their bags and heading towards them.
‘Okay, people,’ called Jack. ‘Let’s get started!’
The group of newcomers quickly gathered around him. Will looked around at all the other young players. There must have been about sixty boys and thirty or so girls.
Jack put two fingers to his mouth and gave a glass-breaking whistle that stopped everyone dead in their tracks.
‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘Welcome, everyone. It’s great to have you all here for the very first T20 Academy Cricket Camp! You may have noticed our senior boys practising in the nets. They’ll be finishing up their camp today with some T20 games, and you lot will be doing the same in a couple of days’ time. This isn’t just a training camp. We’ll be using it to select new recruits for our T20 Youth Academy!’
There was a wave of excited chatter.
‘All right, settle down,’ said Jack. ‘Plenty of time to be amazed later. Now, before I allocate cabins and give you a run-down of today’s activities, are there any questions?’
‘What’s with the girls?’ grunted a fierce-looking boy standing at the back of the group. He towered over everyone.
Jack chuckled and shook his head. ‘Darren McKinnon. Why am I not surprised? I meant questions like “Where are the toilets?”, but I’m glad you noticed. To answer your question, the academy isn’t just looking for boys. We’ll be recruiting girls to join our female squads.’
‘Yeah, girls can play cricket too,’ declared the brown-haired girl from the bus. ‘There may not be as many of us but we’re just as good as boys, if not better!’
‘Thanks for butting in, Zoe. Everyone, I’d like you to meet my fiery niece. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from her over the next three days. I know I will,’ teased Jack.
Zoe slugged him on the arm, shaking her head and pretending to be offended.
‘Easy, firecracker!’ said Jack. ‘Save it for the field.’
‘Waste of time, if you ask me,’ Darren muttered under his breath. ‘Girls can’t even play cricket.’
‘Actually, the Australian women’s team just won their third T20 World Cup and they’re ranked number one in the world,’ said a voice from behind. ‘That’s a bit better than the men’s T20 team.’
The group at the back, including Shavil and Will, turned around. Their eyes nearly leapt from their heads when they saw who was standing there.
‘You’re Glenn Maxwell!’ blurted a stunned freckle-faced boy.
Glenn nodded and smiled. ‘That’s me.’
In an instant, dozens of heads were whipping around like they were on springs. Everyone wanted to get a look at Glenn. There was more excited chatter.
Jack rolled his eyes at Glenn. The all-rounder smiled back at him and shrugged. ‘Guess now would be a good time to introduce the coaches,’ Jack announced loudly. ‘Some of you may recognise Glenn. He’s had a little bit of success in T20 lately, playing for Australia in the World Cup and in the Indian Premier League, and we’re very lucky to have him as our batting expert.’
Glenn gave the group a wave. ‘Hey, how’s it going?’
‘We also have former Bushrangers fast bowler Eddie Rooney, and Liz Banks from the VicSpirit team,’ said Jack.
He motioned to Eddie and Liz, who stood beside Glenn. Both waved and smiled at the awe-struck cricketers.
‘Eddie and Liz will be helping you with your bowling attack, and I’ll be working with all you spinners. Finally, at the side there, we have the academy’s fielding expert, Dan Brocklehurst.’
‘Hi, guys!’ said Dan, giving them a friendly wink.
‘Dan’s a New South Welshman, but don’t be too hard on him. He played a few games for Victoria late in his career. He’s also my right-hand man on this camp, so I have to be nice to him and that means you do too!’ said Jack.
Dan nodded in agreement.
‘All right. As I call your names, grab your stuff and follow Dan to the cabins. After we have a break and some morning tea, we’ll be heading over to the oval for a friendly game of T20.’
Jack proceeded to call out the names of the kids who would be bunking together. When Will heard his and Shavil’s names, a wave of relief came over him. He hurriedly picked up his kitbag, swung his backpack onto his shoulder and stumbled straight into Darren.
The raven-haired giant shoved him out of the way. ‘Watch out, shrimp!’
‘Sorry,’ muttered Will.
‘You will be,’ said Darren, eyeing Will like a cat eyes a goldfish. With a snort, he stalked away towards the cabins.
‘What’s his problem?’ asked Will.
‘That’s just Killer McKinnon,’ said the freckle-faced boy from before. ‘He hates everyone.’ He extended a hand cheerfully. ‘I’m Harry but you can call me Freckles. Everybody else does.’
Will shook the boy’s hand. ‘Hi, Freckles. I’m Will, and this is Shavil.’
‘Why does he hate everyone?’ asked Shavil. Freckles shrugged. ‘He just does. I play district cricket with him in Bendigo. He’s a super-fast bowler, a bit like Mitch Johnson.’
‘At least he’s not in our cabin,’ said Will. ‘Which one’s ours again?’
‘That would be number eight. The one that Killer is walking into right now,’ gulped Shavil.
Will sighed. ‘Perfect. We’re bunking with a killer!’
‘Well, good luck with that,’ Freckles said with a laugh.
Will and Shavil looked at each other, then slowly trudged towards their cabin, wondering if they would survive the next three days of camp.
A FRIENDLY WARM-UP
The boys approached the cabin cautiously. Shavil, who had been wrangling with his large suitcase, took one look at the steps and turned to Will. ‘Little help?’
Will grabbed one end and they both heaved the suitcase up onto the verandah.
‘What the heck is in this thing?’ asked Will. Shavil shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ he wheezed. ‘My mum packed my bag.’
They got to the door of the cabin and paused.
‘You go first,’ said Shavil.
‘Why do I have to go first?’ Will muttered, reluctantly pushing the cabin door. ‘Coming in now… to put our stuff in our allocated cabin…’
Darren was sitting on a lower bunk, unpacking his gear. ‘Oh, great. Nerds,’ he groaned. ‘I’ve already called this bunk, so don’t even think about taking the top one. I’m put
ting my stuff there.’
‘Sure thing, Mr Killer,’ said Shavil, nervously following Will inside.
‘DON’T-EV ER-CALL-ME-THAT-AGAIN,’ Darren said slowly. ‘Only my friends call me Killer.’
‘Okay,’ croaked Shavil. ‘Sorry… dude?’
‘Um, Darren?’ said Will, extending his hand. ‘I’m Will and this is Shavil.’
Darren looked at Will’s hand and sniffed. ‘I’m not here to make friends. Just stay out of my way and don’t go near my stuff.’
He pushed past them, sending Shavil toppling backwards over his suitcase. Darren gave them a final psycho-killer stare, then slammed the cabin door behind him.
‘He seems nice,’ said Shavil.
‘I guess we get the other bunk,’ said Will. ‘What do you want – top or bottom?’
‘Bottom. I sleepwalk sometimes.’
Will nodded. ‘Good to know.’
As the boys began to unpack, it quickly became clear why Shavil’s bag was so heavy. Besides all his clothes, a doona and a pillow, his mum had also packed a large selection of cooking utensils, a portable camping cooktop and an electric rice cooker.
‘Your mum knows they feed us here, right?’
‘Will, you have to understand my mother is Indian,’ said Shavil, as if that explained everything.
‘So you, like, have a special diet?’
‘No, she just thinks no one except for her can feed me properly.’
Both boys laughed.
The door suddenly opened, and Shavil screamed.
Dan stepped into the room. ‘Everything okay in here?’ he asked.
‘Yep, all good,’ said Will. ‘He just thought you were someone else.’
Shavil nodded awkwardly.
‘Okay,’ said Dan, eyeing Shavil curiously. ‘Come and grab some morning tea before the game.’
After demolishing an apple and two blueberry muffins for morning tea, Will grabbed his cricket kit and headed down to the oval with Shavil, where the rest of the players were gathered around Dan.
‘Kids, this is just a friendly warm-up game,’ said Dan. ‘We just want to go through the basics of the short form of T20, so the most important thing is to have fun.’
Will glanced at Darren. He looked anything but friendly.
Dan clapped his hands together. ‘Okay, can I get two captains?’
Darren’s hand shot up.
‘Thanks, Darren. That’s one. Who else wants to captain?’
Will thought about putting his hand up, but was beaten to it by Zoe.
‘Great! We have our second captain,’ said Dan. ‘For this game, I’d like an even number of boys and girls on each team. Zoe, you can have first pick.’
Darren and Zoe took turns selecting players. At first, Will was quite happy not to be picked by Darren. But as the teams filled up, he began to worry that he would be picked last. At school, Will usually got chosen first or he was the one doing the picking. Now, he was with a bunch of kids he didn’t know, many of whom were probably better players than him. Each time Darren or Zoe looked past him and picked someone else, a little dart struck his pride. He was currently on twelve darts and counting. Come on, pick me. Don’t let me be last.
Finally, Zoe pointed at him. ‘I’ll take the little guy,’ she said, and some of the girls standing behind her giggled.
Will reluctantly walked over to Zoe’s team. It was bad enough to be picked near the end, but did she have to make fun of my height as well?
Shavil and Freckles were the only ones left. Even all the girls had been picked.
Will leant in close to Zoe and whispered, ‘The Indian kid’s a top batsman.’
She looked at him strangely. She clearly didn’t want his opinion, especially not when he was leaning so close to her face. ‘Do you mind?’
‘Sorry. Just saying.’ Will shrugged and stepped back. ‘Also, I heard the other kid farts a lot,’ he added. Zoe screwed up her nose, and Will smiled to himself.
‘I’ll take that guy,’ said Zoe, pointing at Shavil.
Shavil smiled and jogged over to Will.
Zoe turned to her team. ‘Okay, who’s going to open?’ she asked. ‘Any awesome openers here?’
‘We’re both awesome openers!’ said Shavil, still glad that he hadn’t been the last player to be picked.
‘All righty. Indian kid and short stuff, you guys can open,’ said Zoe.
Oh great, thought Will. He looked over to see Darren loosening his shoulders and tossing the ball around.
‘And don’t screw it up,’ she added. ‘I want to wipe the floor with tall, dark and ugly over there.’
‘You mean Darren?’ squeaked Will.
‘Killer McKinnon, to his friends,’ added Shavil, trying to be helpful.
‘Yeah, that guy,’ said Zoe. ‘Let’s tear him apart!’
She’s almost as ruthless as Darren, thought Will. He and Shavil strapped on their pads and headed out to bat. As they made their way to the middle of the pitch, Will began to worry that it was Darren who was getting ready to do the tearing.
‘Why did you volunteer us as openers?’ he asked Shavil. ‘He’s going to murder us.’
‘What? We are openers,’ said Shavil. ‘I call non-strikers,’ he added quickly. He glanced nervously at Darren, who was measuring his run-up.
‘Brilliant, thanks,’ muttered Will. He made his way to the crease. After a few deep breaths, he tightened his helmet and pulled on his gloves. Okay, I’m calm. I’m ready. And I’m about to face a fast bowler called Killer. Will tapped his bat on the ground, took his stance and looked around the oval. Not the worst place to die, he thought. He looked up at the bowler’s end to see Dan, who was umpiring, signal game on.
Darren steamed in for the first delivery. It slammed the pitch and flew up in Will’s face. He ducked just in time, and the ball whooshed past his head. He looked up at Darren, who was glaring back at Will and smiling maniacally. I hope that was the quick ball, thought Will.
But Darren was just warming up. The second delivery was even faster. Will didn’t see it till it was too late. It leapt off the hard, yellow turf and went screaming past his chest. He only just managed to get his bat down in time to avoid an edge to the keeper.
The fielders were cheering and Darren was snarling. At the non-striker’s end, Shavil smiled and gave Will a thumbs up.
Please, don’t let me die today, prayed Will. The very next delivery struck Will’s helmet with a loud CRACK!
He went down, and the next thing he saw was an extreme close-up of the pitch. Will rolled over and looked up at the sky. The sun was bouncing all over the place like a ping-pong ball, and Will’s ears were ringing.
‘You okay?’ asked Dan, appearing beside him.
Will sat up groggily. Dan’s face looked blurry and, past him, Will could see two Darrens, both smiling like demented demons. ‘Stay down,’ they mouthed.
Will picked up his bat and pushed himself to his feet.
‘Maybe you should retire hurt,’ suggested Dan.
Will looked up and saw the worry in Dan’s eyes. ‘I’m fine,’ he said, slowly resuming his position at the crease.
‘You’ve got guts, mate!’ said one of the slip fielders behind him.
‘But no brains!’ chimed the girl at wickie.
Dan signalled a no ball for the second bouncer of the over.
At least this one should be lower, thought Will. As Darren began his run-up, Will recited his mantra. Anticipate… ACT!
The fourth ball was another Will-seeking missile, but this time Will locked on to it. He leapt onto his back foot and hooked it straight off the meat of the bat. The ball ran to the fence for four. Zoe and the rest of the team jumped to their feet, cheering.
Darren glared back at Will unimpressed. ‘Lucky shot.’
Will was determined to prove him wrong. I can do this, he told himself.
The fifth delivery was another scorcher – a boot-busting yorker. Will closed his eyes and swung. THWAK!
It was
the glorious sound of cricket ball on wood. Unfortunately for Will, it was the wrong type of wood. When Will opened his eyes and turned, the middle stump was lying on the ground. He’d been clean-bowled.
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
‘Nice one,’ Zoe said sourly as she passed Will on her way out to the pitch.
But Zoe didn’t last long at the crease, either. The only one who made a dent in the run rate for Zoe’s team was Shavil. He top-scored with 36 not out. The rest of the team fell quickly.
Will had to hand it to Shavil – he knew how to survive in the middle. He was a good defensive player and a cautious stroker of the ball but he kept the scorecard ticking over. It was a shame that the rest of the team fell so cheaply. For their 20 overs, Zoe’s team managed only 68 and Darren’s team scored that in just 11 overs.
After lunch, Jack took the group through the rules of Twenty20. Will tried to pay attention but he couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Darren’s face after he’d taken Will’s wicket. It was a bit like the face of a lion just about to tuck into his share of antelope. Will was sure that face would be haunting his dreams for days, especially with Darren sleeping two feet away from him.
That night at dinner, Will sat at a table with Shavil in the camp-site dining room. It was basically just a big shed with a tin roof and some wooden tables and benches inside. Will pushed the lasagne and salad around his plate. He wasn’t very hungry.
‘What’s up with you, sunshine?’ Zoe plonked herself down next to Will.
‘Hey,’ said Will, raising his eyebrows in casual salute. ‘Still mad about losing the game?’
‘Heck no, that was hours ago,’ said Zoe. ‘I’m firmly focused on tomorrow. From what I could get out of Uncle Jack, we’re going to be doing some serious T20 training, including batting lessons from Maxi!’
‘You really love your cricket, huh?’ asked Will.
‘Sure, don’t you?’ Zoe replied between mouth fuls of lasagne.
‘Yeah, but you’re a…’
‘I’m a what?’ said Zoe, her mood suddenly darkening.
‘Uh, a Capricorn?’ said Will, madly back-pedalling. ‘When did you say your birthday was, again?’
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