Spinner: A boy's journey to cricket fame - Brossura

Elliott, Ron

Brossura

ISBN 10: 192136193X ISBN 13: 9781921361937

Casa editrice: Fremantle Pr, 2010

Riassunto

Twelve-year-old David Donald is a simple boy with an amazing gift—he is a spinner: a sportsman who becomes the stuff of legend. His guardian, Uncle Michael, is a spinner as well, though a different kind— a trickster, a shyster, and a mythmaker. Set between the wars at the beginning of a drought and a great depression, this David-and-Goliath story tells how a talented young boy beat the English at their own game. Exploring the violence and conflict, the honor and deep bonds created by war and sport within men, this unique fable investigates the tale teller who spins lies to reveal the truth.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull'autore

Ron Elliott is a lecturer in screenwriting and production at Curtin University. He is a freelance scriptwriter and film and television director who has worked for ABC.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

Spinner

A Novel

By Ron Elliott

Fremantle Press

Copyright © 2010 Ron Elliott
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-921361-93-7

CHAPTER 1

Just after lunch David's grandad came to the hay shed, where he rested one of his long hands on the torn halter hanging on the nail there.

David looked up, a shimmer of dust filling the air from his frantic sweeping.

He'd been pestering his grandfather all morning for leave to go into town but the old man had just pointed to each of David's unfinished chores then moved off to do his own. On school days David had fewer jobs to do, but Saturday and Sunday were full of them. He'd shifted the hoses, fed the chooks, chopped wood and then attacked the sweeping of the hay with such vigour that Jess the blue heeler had gone to hide under the rain tank.

David set aside the broom and waited, hopeful as his grandfather looked.

'You call this done?'

David tried not to look at the floor, where he knew there was lots of hay still, but the glint of a half covered horseshoe dragged his eyes down. 'Pretty much done.'

'I beg your pardon.'

David swallowed, squinting at the sunlight behind the old man, or maybe at the line he'd crossed. His grandfather was a thin man, long limbed and leathery from work and the sun. There were a lot of lines around his grandfather's eyes. And a lot of lines you could cross.

David looked down. 'Sorry, sir. It's not done.'

'Why?'

'Cos it's not done properly.' He could feel the old man still staring, but didn't look up. He could feel the old man start to shift to go, and he tried to stay quiet, but it just wouldn't stay inside him. 'Don't you even want to know the score?'

Australia were playing England. It was the second day of the first Test being played in Brisbane. It was cricket, the most wonderful game in the world.

David's grandfather turned back and looked at him with his closed face.

'The Railway Hotel will have the wireless on,' David offered. 'I can hear it out the window if I stand by the veranda.'

His grandfather looked back out across the yard like he could just make out the Test match being played all the way across the country. He took his time. Maybe he was seeing a ball being bowled or a brilliant dive and catch. Maybe it was a batsman standing tall and cutting the ball to the boundary. Maybe it was a spin bowler he could see.

David's grandfather used to be The George Baker once. He had been an off-spin bowler for The Wheatfields, and then Country. He had been the coach of a combined Western Australian team that played Visitors from other states and other countries. David had seen photographs in the Railway Hotel. But that was before the war, and before David was born and ... before. Now George Baker was just his grandad, and he never talked about who he once was.

David supposed his grandfather must have loved cricket. He didn't seem to now. Maybe for his grandfather all the cricket training was like the farm work, an eternal wrestle against a stronger competitor who just wouldn't quit.

His grandfather finally answered. 'They brought over a pretty good team this time.'

The English had brought out a fearsome team. George Proctor was said to be the fastest bowler who had ever lived. Tudor was the most fierce, Windsor was cruel and gifted, and Longford a talented bat and a winning captain. They had a very strong batting line-up and it was difficult to see how Australia would manage to bowl them out especially with so few quality spin bowlers in the current game. That's what the newspapers said.

'Can I go then?'

'They will have finished for the day.'

'Then I can get the final score

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Fremantle Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 192136193X
• ISBN 13: 9781921361937
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 470
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Germania