WORLD TOUR – Match 9

Having played such a tough series in Australia, I asked our hosts in New Zealand if we could play a county side, for a bit of relaxation. I am concerned that we never manage to bat through our entire allowance of 40 overs, so I did suggest that we try to play ourselves in this time, not go for wild and rash shots.

You may note I’ve been putting myself down the batting order recently, as my reflexes are a bit shot at the moment. Today I decided I’d try opening again – and was moderately successful.

We used up all our 40 overs (I had at least managed to stay in for the entire innings) scoring a magnificent 284-9.

Tea was another inspiring choice by our hosts. It’s amazing what you can do with a kiwi.

With such a decent target to play with, I let you all have one over to bowl, just in case any new stars appeared, and then I concentrated on our main bowlers, particularly giving them a chance to try out a few tricks, like reverse swing.

We skittled them out, eventually, for 75, and so we won – oh, and a hat trick with the last three balls of the match rather rounded off the game for me.

Next week we’ll play them at international level, which I suspect will be somewhat harder.