Bowled Over (Nice Garry, #1)

By Michael Wagner, Nathan Lyon and Dave Williams

Inspired by the talent and passion Australian Test cricketing great Nathan Lyon has for the game, this is the story of an ordinary kid with an extraordinary gift.

'Nice one, Garry!'

Ten-year-old Garry Keenan is about to discover he has a special cricketing ability, which is a dream come true, right? Well, it is, except that sometimes being first rate comes with all sorts of new challenges ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Oct 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781460714430

Michael Wagner

Michael Wagner is the author of more than 80 books for children including the much-loved Maxx Rumble series, the CBCA Notable picture books Why I Love Footy, Why I Love Summer and Bear Make Den (which he co-authored with Jane Godwin) and the So Wrong series which was shortlisted for multiple children's choice awards in 2019 and 2020.

Book preview

Dedication

The Nice Garry books are dedicated

to young cricketers of all abilities.

Love and enjoy the great game

of cricket as I do. Happy reading!

— Nathan Lyon

For the original ‘Shark’, Angus Whitehead.

— Michael Wagner

the Youngstown Yabbies

the Keenan family

Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

About the Authors

Copyright

1

After school every Wednesday at the Keenan house it’s ‘Nan Time’.

Nan comes over to look after Garry and his big brother, Jamie. The Keenan brothers love Nan Time for three reasons:

Nan lets them eat anything they want – including chip sandwiches and bread rolls stuffed with microwaved dim sims

she never quite remembers to check if they have any homework to do, and

she lets them play cricket wherever they like, including inside the house with a ping-pong ball and a ruler for a bat when it’s raining outside.

This Wednesday afternoon, the boys and Nan are lined up at the kitchen bench, like three wise monkeys, sitting on their stools, eating heated-up spaghetti. Actually, only the boys are eating, Nan is tapping away at Mum’s old laptop with two fingers.

As no one has said anything for a whole minute-and-a-half, Garry is bored, so he says, ‘Look, I’ve got a beard.’

Jamie glances sideways and sees spaghetti hanging from his little brother’s mouth, dangling right over his chin like a long straggly beard. Jamie and Garry chuckle. Nan scoffs.

The boys settle back down and behave sensibly for a moment. Until Jamie says, ‘Look, I’ve got a moustache.’

Garry’s big brother is pinning four strands of spaghetti to his top lip. The pasta is curling down the sides of his mouth, slopping onto his cheeks.

Garry giggles. ‘You look like Grandpa.’

‘Boooys,’ says Nan in a low tone that sounds like a dog growling.

The boys smile at each other, then eat sensibly for another moment. Until Garry picks up a handful of spaghetti and places it on top of his head like a wig, saying, ‘Look, I’m Nan!’

Jamie laughs.

‘That’s meant to be funny, is it, Garry?’ says Nan. ‘For starters, my hair is not that colour. Nor is it long and dangly. It’s a dusky autumnal red that’s cut to a manageable length. And, also Garry, now you’ve got sauce in your hair.’

‘Whoops,’ says Garry, lowering his head so the spaghetti can slide back into his bowl. He touches the warm sauce in his hair with his fingertips. ‘Ew.’

Nan sighs. ‘There is never a dull moment with you two, is there?’

‘We don’t like dull moments, Nan,’ says Jamie.

‘Yeah, they’re too . . . um,’ says Garry, ‘dull.’ He and Jamie smile.

‘I’m not in the mood for any silliness, boys,’ says Nan. ‘I’m having enough trouble with your mum’s old laptop. The space-bar’s not working. You have to hit it three times to get one space, then it suddenly does two.’

‘What are you looking at, Nan?’ asks Garry, putting a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

‘Are you on a dating site?’ asks Jamie.

‘A dating site?’ replies Nan, without taking her eyes off the screen.

Garry giggles. He has to tilt his head up to the ceiling, so the spaghetti in his mouth won’t tumble out.

‘It’s where you go to get a boyfriend, Nan,’ explains Jamie.

Garry laughs. He has to hold the pasta in his mouth with his hand.

‘Why would I need a boyfriend?’ asks Nan. ‘Grandpa’s my boyfriend.’

The brothers crack up. Garry spits the spaghetti out of his mouth and onto the kitchen bench . . . and the floor . . . and the laptop.

‘Garry!’ says Nan.

‘Sorry,’ says Garry, jumping off his stool and racing around the kitchen bench to grab lots of sheets of paper towel.

‘There’s a noodle on the laptop!’ says Nan.

‘I’m onto it, Nan,’ says Garry, ripping sheets off the paper towel roll.

He rushes back and wipes the spaghetti off the bench with one sheet, off the floor with another, and then uses a third, scrunched-up one, to flick the noodle off the laptop keyboard. And onto Nan’s pink top.

‘I’ve just washed this, Garry!’ says Nan, picking the wet pasta off her top. ‘Honestly!’

‘Sorry, Nan,’ says Garry, as he takes the spaghetti strand from the tip of Nan’s finger and puts it into the scrunched-up paper towel. He drops all the dirty sheets into the bin and heads back to his stool. As