Nick's gasping grab

• David Mccann, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2005

Saturday afternoon at the cricket had been an exhilarating experience; at least that’s what the records said. The boy’s team from Claremont, led by Captain Richard Ferrero, stormed their way to the target score, 396 runs, during one day’s play. However, they had lost nine of their wickets, and Ferrero was the only key batsman left. His partner, Joseph Dickson, was a bowler; a very good one at that but had only contributed 12 runs to the 392 run tally.

And now it was the last ball. Glenorchy’s best spin bowler, Harry Trumpet, was on a roll. One more ball, and one more wicket, and Glenorchy would win the match, claiming the championship.

Whilst it may have been an exciting day for Trumpet, outfielder Nicholas Riley was quite bored. At his position of deep square leg, he had only seen 4 or 5 balls come his way all day, only to sail over the boundary for six. However, Nick still waited in anticipation. The gentle breeze made him unusually calm, but he knew that this could be his moment. Ferrero was a right-hander, and likely to pull the next pull towards the boundary, right to where Nick was standing.

Nick suddenly found himself day-dreaming, he was catching the ball, winning the ball for his team, and celebrating later that night at Harry’s, when he heard the sound of ball on bat. Ferrero had hit the ball, and hit it hard, snapping Nick awake. The ball was flying fast, out to his right. He had to react now. Sprinting, like he’d been taught Nick tried to place himself in a good position, but he was too slow. He dived, extending his arm as far as he could, and felt the immediate pang on the ball hitting his hand.

“Yes!” he shouted with enthusiasm, but realised it wasn’t over – Nick hit the ground, and felt a chilling pain run through his arm. The ball was gone, out of his grip, flying through the air. The crowd of 50 people was on it’s feet, watching, mouths open with excitement, some hoping Nick could make a second reaction, others half-hoping he’d been hurt bad enough to not move. But Nick gasped to, and as he did, something amazing happened.

The ball landed in his mouth. The crowd was stunned, as if someone had slapped them, quite hard, but not enough to knock them off their feet. Harry Trumpet was running over, along with the rest of Glenorchy, whilst the two batsmen, Ferrero and Dickson stood stunned.

Nick finally came to his senses, realizing what was going on. He plucked the ball from his move, stood up, and stared at it. Then…

“We won!” shouted Trumpet. “I can’t believe it! We won!” The crowd supporting Glenorchy cheered, and surprisingly, so did the Claremont supporters. Nick threw the ball high into the air, and shouted a defiant cry of "YES!". And to this day, the legend of Nicholas Riley’s infamous catch is remembered.