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“Adelaide is a blast, you guys, they have this thing called the mall’s balls—” Jake Fraser-Mcgurk raved to his renebabes teammates.
“Oh you'll have to show me around,” Joe Clarke suggested.
Jake turned toward Joe, face scrunched up in disgust. “Oh, an Englishman,” Jake commented, mockingly. “Are you here to make us all tea?”
Joe frowned. “I’m here as your new batsman and wicketkeeper—”
“Wicketkeeper?” Jake asked, scowling, and looked around. “What did you do with that child? Sam?”
“Umm nothing, I—” Joe started.
Jake glanced around some more, noticing some fresh new faces. His eyes snagged on Adam Zampa and levelled a stare. “Aren't you that flat earther?”
Adam just blinked. “Oh, yeah, I—”
But Jake had moved on. “And you,” he growled, staring at Nathan Lyon. “The goat.” Jake spat on the ground. “Well it's not the year of the goat and—”
“It's not the year of the rooster either,” Nathan countered smugly.
Jake just gritted his teeth, bristling at being talked back to. This wasn't how he was treated in South Australia. They thought of him as a god there.
“You're not in South Australia any more, champ,” Nathan Lyon added, reading Jake's mind.
Crossing his arms, Jake pouted. “Wait till my father, the inventor of the reverse sweep, hears about this,” he growled.
Aaron Finch snorted. “Your father,” he scoffed. “the captain of the Melbourne Stars.”
Jake just blinked. “Yeah,” he said, trying to sound confident, but his voice wavered a bit.
“We're not afraid of him or his merry band of misfits,” Shaun Marsh said, grinning wickedly.
“My dad isn't someone that you should be taking lightly,” Jake warned. “Did you see what he did in India?”
“Fell off a golf cart.”
“Ate too much butter chicken.”
“Walked around Bangalore telling everyone “don't you know who I am?””
Jake just pursed his lips and grabbed his kookaburra bat. “If anyone needs me, I'll be in the nets practising ramp shots,” he said, and strutted away.