Hit for Six (9 page)

It had been a sensational weekend, but Monday came around as quickly as ever.

As Davey pulled up at the school gate, he noticed Mo and his mates lurking.

‘Wondered when you'd show up!' Davey held out his hand for the suitcase. ‘Hand it over.'

Then Davey noticed Mo's face.

‘You look awful,' Davey said. He wasn't trying to be mean. Mo
did
look awful. He looked green and shiny. He was sweating profusely and his hair hung limply on his head. In fact, he looked more like a slug than Bella had in costume.

‘I'm sick,' Mo groaned. ‘Something I ate . . .'

Mo looked like he might projectile-vomit any second. Davey took a step back.

‘Anyway, my dad said all Clouters hold up their end of the bet, so . . .' Mo handed over to Davey the Whopper Chomps suitcase.

‘Thanks, Mo. It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong.'

Mo began to back away slowly.

Davey unzipped the suitcase to reveal . . . nothing. The case was empty.

‘Hey!' Davey called to Mo's retreating back.

‘Sucker!' Mo turned and jeered. Then he clutched his stomach. ‘I think I'm going to throw up . . .' He headed for the toilets at a rapid pace. ‘Too many Whopper Chomps . . .'

He couldn't have eaten all twenty packets on his own, could he?

The bell rang.

For once, Davey Warner was on time for assembly.

Mrs Trundle made a few announcements and then began to read through a list of names of recent merit award winners. She paused before the fourth name.

‘Just a minute,' she said, before a hushed conversation with Mudge.

‘No mistake, Lavinia, I mean, Mrs Trundle,' Mudge crooned, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Both of Trundle's eyes twitched madly. ‘David Warner,' she called, with a slight catch in her voice.

Davey stood up and wound his way past students to the front of assembly.

‘Thank you.' Davey took his piece of paper and nodded to the cheering throng of kids in
front of him. He scanned the faces he knew so well.

He felt pretty good. The Sandhill Sluggers were number one on the ladder. He'd hit six sixes in a game. He'd got Josh Jarrett out. Bella Ferosi had dressed as a slug. His folks were happy with him for getting an A. He'd beaten Mo in a bet. He had won his first-ever merit award.

Most importantly, it was only one week until the holidays. Davey and his mates were going to play endless games of cricket.

And NOTHING was going to get in their way.

DAVID ANDREW WARNER

BORN: 27 OCTOBER 1986

BATS: LEFT HANDED

BOWLS: RIGHT ARM LEG BREAK

*CURRENT AT 5 JANUARY 2015

NAME:

BORN:

BATS:

BOWLS:

HIGHEST SCORE:

MOST SIXES:

MOST CATCHES IN ONE MATCH:

MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT:

TOUGHEST OPPOSITION:

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN PLAYER:

FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL PLAYER:

ULTIMATE DREAM TEAM:

ALSO BY DAVID WARNER

THE KABOOM KID

THE BIG SWITCH

PLAYING UP

KEEP IT DOWN!

THE KABOOM KID – HIT FOR SIX

First published in Australia in 2015 by

Simon & Schuster (Australia) Pty Limited

Suite 19A, Level 1, 450 Miller Street, Cammeray, NSW 2062

A CBS Company

Sydney New York London Toronto New Delhi

Visit our website at
www.simonandschuster.com.au

© David Warner and J.S. Black 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Creator: Warner, David Andrew, author.

Title: Kaboom Kid #4: Hit For Six/David Warner and J.S. Black.

ISBN: 9781925030846 (paperback)

9781925030853 (ebook)

Target Audience: For children.

Subjects: Warner, David Andrew.

Cricket – Australia – Juvenile literature.

Cricket players – Australia – Juvenile literature.

Cricket – Batting – Juvenile literature.

Other Creators/Contributors: Black, J. S., author.

Dewey Number: 796.3580994

Cover and internal design by Hannah Janzen

Cover and internal illustrations by Jules Faber

Inside cover photograph of adult David Warner by © Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Australia