England's Claire Taylor is writing a regular diary for the ECB website during the winter for the duration of her stay in New Zealand/Australia through to England's internationals in February 2003.

I've been playing for the England Women's team since 1998. In June 2001 I decided to take redundancy from my graduate job to concentrate on my cricket. In doing this I became the first of the Sport England funded women's squad to train and play cricket full time.

After a shortened winter tour in 2001/02 (I was injured before playing a match) I needed to play more cricket than rain-affected English seasons allow. One of the most important reasons for giving up my job was that I would have the opportunity to travel abroad during the English winter. Before the World Cup in 2004/5 I planned to play seasons in Australia and New Zealand.

I first contacted Women's Cricket Australia in April 2002 about travelling out in the winter to play for a club and perhaps state. Arrangements were made with the Victorian WCA to play for a club in Melbourne.

I then applied for a visa and requested that sponsorship be gained for my time in Australia; this was the start of the difficulties. After weeks of emails and telephone calls I finally cancelled arrangements after sponsorship and therefore a visa proved impossible to come by.

Fortunately I was able, with the help of Haidee Tiffen (a New Zealand player who has spent the last two summers playing in Sussex) to make arrangements to come and play in New Zealand.

Of my team-mates from back home, Mandie Godliman is over here already, and Charlotte Edwards and Clare Taylor will be coming over before the start of the State cricket season.

I arrived on a Friday morning in early October after travelling for two days; my first game was the next day against Mandie's team. Lancaster Park (my team) batted first, put 173 on the board and then bowled Riccarton (Mandie's team) out for 135 on a slow, low early-season special. Sunday was spent down in Timaru visiting Haidee's relatives and helping out at the St. Andrews School fair.

The next week was spent settling into our new surroundings. I've spent some time in Christchurch before. England were based here in the run in to the World Cup in 2000, so for me it is a reaquaintance, for Mandie an introduction.

Christchurch is a garden city, located in the Canterbury plains and surrounded by both pastoral and arable farm lands. To the south, the Port Hills dominate whilst the West is lined by snow topped mountains (apparently they're only hills but by English standards I'll call them mountains!) To the east are the long sandy beaches of New Brighton. It's a very beautiful place to be based.

Mandie and I have joined a local gym, and fitness schedules have been reorganised with yoga and Thai-bo classes thrown in for some variety. It's great to be able to train outside and complete speed sessions and cricket drills on a grass surface. The weather's been good so far with just a few early morning chills to remind us that it's still spring.

The Canterbury Cricket Association has been very helpful, I'll be trialling for the state team this weekend down in Otago. I'm looking forward to being able to do so much work on my cricket and can't wait for the other England girls to get here!

© ECB