Proud to be Kiwi

The White Ferns have just finished their second winter camp and boy is it winter. Lincoln in the summer can be freezing at the best of times, and our touring teams will vouch for that, but this past weekend we were treated to snow. For some of the North Island girls it was the first time they had actually seen snow falling! As you can imagine, it was very exciting and naturally the morning run was cancelled and the girls decided to make snowmen instead.

The camp was full of cricket, more cricket, guests and fun. The highlight of the camp would have to been the Ready Steady Cook challenge. It involved everyone being split into three teams and getting a list of ingredients to create their master piece. One group, that I was proud not to be a part of, suffered a series of unfortunate events which led to their main meal tasting like cat food. The other two teams actually made edible food. Steve Jenkin was the only brave soul to eat the cat food meal which for interest's sake consisted of a tuna, asparagus, baked beans and avocado wrap, with a stuffed potato consisting of those ingredients all over again. Hmm, not ideal!

We had the pleasure of Cate Sexton, who was the manager of the White Ferns team that won the World Cup in 2000, speaking to the group. Cate is now the Black Ferns [NZ women's rugby] manager, who are currently the World Champions. She shared her experiences with both successful teams and told us what she believes is the recipe to World Cup victory. From my personal experience Cate is the utmost professional who played a major part in us winning the World Cup in 2000. For me personally, as the only player left from that winning team, it brought back some wonderful memories as well a reminder of how old I am.

We also had the exciting news that Suzie Bates was named in the Tall Ferns [basketball] team to compete at the Beijing Olympics. We are all very proud of her achievement and we wish her the best. She is a talented sportswoman with a massive future in New Zealand sport.

It has been interesting reading about developments in other international teams around the world. I am personally pleased to see the women's game improving in the area of player contracts. It is an exciting time to be involved in the women's game and I too, like Shelley [Nitschke], am at the wrong end of my career. Obviously seeing Australia follow the ECB and I am sure the BCCI will follow, it seems like a natural progression for New Zealand Cricket to address this area for their international women.

As most international amateur sports people can empathise with, it can be extremely stressful working full-time, training like a professional athlete, participating in cricket series and occasionally spending time with your partner, friends and family. We all make huge sacrifices to play a game we are tremendously passionate about, so any financial remuneration that enables us to free up some of that precious time is an enormous help.

The White Ferns have some amazing young talent coming through [especially in the likes of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine], and if we can make cricket a more attractive option through some financial assistance, it will enable NZC to secure their talents for the years to come.

I am currently teaching at Hillmorton High in Christchurch. Ann Brokenshire my Principal and her support staff have been fantastic with juggling my cricket days off. My Head of Department, Melissa Ruscoe is the current captain of the Black Ferns, so Hillmorton High is leading the way in girl power.

New Zealand has a very small population of four million people. We realise that our population is probably the size of a small Indian wedding [Mithali, I know I am one of your 4 million …] and, as a Kiwi, this fact makes me extra proud of our achievements. The White Ferns' World Cup squad have very clear goals in mind and we are extremely driven to fulfill these. We are all proud to wear the silver fern, call ourselves Kiwis and tell everyone our home is New Zealand.