"If Ever I've Been Loved" sample (45 seconds) [Listen]

New Zealand women's fast bowler Katrina Keenan has had some good news going into the CricInfo Women's World Cup starting on November 29.

A song she penned is No 1 on the Country 88FM daily chart in Canterbury.

The song If Ever I've Been Loved was recorded at Geoff Cavander's Cass Bay recording studio.

The 29-year-old, who is New Zealand Cricket's women's development officer, is a member of a trio called the Fab Three who play gigs all around the South Island.

"I've got an interest in music and I would really to have some involvement in it in the future.

"I write as a hobby and I've always had an interest in the entertainment industry," she said.

Keenan doesn't write music as such. She gets an idea of a melody, records it on a dictaphone and works with music writers to turn her thoughts into sound.

"I found this tune [If Ever I've Been Loved] was in my mind all the time. I sat down with Geoff Cavander at his studio and we went through a few chords. He put it down on and then I went in and did the vocals.

"You get a funny feeling hearing your own voice," she said after hearing the recording tapes.

The music connection at New Zealand Cricket has been a help. Apart from the obvious interest from former opera singer Christopher Doig, who is the chief executive and who has helped her with some breathing exercises, there is also the interest in country music of the director of coaching development, John Howell.

It was Howell who Keenan turned to for an assessment of her song. She hadn't previously written country-type music and wasn't sure whether it fitted the bill.

He was impressed and played it to some contacts at Country 88FM.

"They said they were pleasantly surprised and they added it to their computerised playlist.

"It's been No 1 for the last three nights in a row," she said.

What has been a delight for her is that she has been competing with a Country legend like Kenny Rogers.

"I would like to look into it a little more in the future.

"Just as I am in cricket, I am pretty ambitious. I've got another song I've written which is also in the Country mode," she said.

Country music wasn't an area of singing that she had concentrated on. While she never put her hand up while at school to perform in the school productions, she did have an interest in all areas of music.

"If Christopher Doig said to me, 'You'd be a good opera singer', I'd give that a try.

"I've written a jazz song which I think would be good for a boys' band. There are lots of different scopes."

For the moment she is preferring to concentrate on the preparations for the CricInfo Women's World Cup.

"Singing is a relaxant for me. I get a buzz out of going out to sing, just the same as I do when I go out to play cricket.

"The guys at Country 88FM have some contacts in the US but it will have to wait until after the World Cup what we do with the song and where I need to go with it," she said.

© CricInfo