Friday 1 December

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

A glorious day at Lincoln and a great result for the Clear White Ferns.

Ireland won the toss, batted first and scored 99 runs before being dismissed in the 50th over. We started the chase in quick fashion with Paula Flannery top scoring with 49 runs. Anna O'Leary chipped in with a quick 26 and we reached the total in the 24th over.

Congratulations to Dot (Catherine Campbell) who reached a special milestone today. Dot, after picking up two wickets against Ireland became the highest wicket taker in women's one-day internationals! Awesome Dotty!!!!!

Nic Payne joined the team late yesterday afternoon as a replacement for Kate Pulford and she has settled into things well. Nic has moved into our Pavilion and we are all quite happy with this as she has brought with her a range of Dutch sweets e.g drop (liquorice).

There is a bit of inter-pavilion rivalry starting to occur with each Pavilion trying to outdo the other with Xmas decorations. So far I'd have to say Pavilion 3 is leading things with at least two Christmas trees already up and a zillion lights – foolishly they have put out several candy canes (do they really think that they will still be there by Christmas!!!!).

Our pavilion is looking pretty sharp with Xmas Lillies, some lights and some Xmas candles. Anna has put out her Christmas stocking which is rather presumptuous if you ask me - but you never know there may be a few surprises in there for her by Christmas.

We capped off the evening with a very enjoyable team BBQ and I think a few of the girls are now checking out Day 2 of the test between NZ and South Africa. Fingers crossed for Matthew Sinclair.

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