After winning the Otago tournament our girls cricket team qualified and travelled to Palmerston North for this year's national tournament. Read on for a recap of the tournament by two of our players, Alanni and Kate.

It was the 18th of November and we were up nice and early, 4 o'clock IN THE MORNING!!!

We had to be at the airport at 5:00am, we eventually boarded the plane, and the journey started. We had to catch 2 planes to get to Palmerston North. On the second plane into Palmy there was a bit of turbulence. Then we went to the supermarket to get some lunch which was about time because we were very hungry. We went to the ground and met the Wellington team Tawa. We hung out with them for a while before we had a game in the afternoon against Saint Matthews Collegiate.

The first game started on an overcast day, so we decided to bowl. It was very windy so we gave them 45 extras. They ended up being bowled out for 81 in under 14 overs. After 3 steadily spaced out wickets. Molly came to the crease to join Caitlin. They put on a 52 run partnership. Molly got bowled and Caitlin carried her bat. After the game we checked into the Massey Halls of Residence. Where we just chilled out for a while before we had to go to the opening ceremony. For our tea all the teams had a barbecue. Alanni was awarded a special prize for crying over a burnt sausage. We definitely had the most fun out of all the teams. Before going back to the halls we run around outside like crazy.

The next morning we played Tauranga. We batted first and put on a really respectful 110 with Megha top scoring 40 runs and Grace 35. Batting was Tauranga's strength. They chased down our score with 3.2 overs to spare. In the afternoon we played the defending champs, Heaton. Due to their fiery bowling attack, we were bowled out for 54. Gemma got 14 runs. We had them on the ropes getting wickets at regular intervals but they chased down our score with 12.4 overs remaining. Then after the game we wanted to go to Kmart because there isn’t one in Dunedin. At Kmart we found Craig the duck who was our mascot. Lots of us separated from the herd but eventually by 9:00 we found everyone, I think.

The next day we played Remuera. They had a very, very good bowling attack and bowled us out for 35. Grace top scored with 12. We played well to get 3 wickets. We really wanted to end on a high by winning the last game. Tawa won the toss and chose to bat. We got all of them out for 88 in 19.4 overs. We were going at a steady pace. After the 2 openers got out Megha and Kate finished it off with a 4, getting a 48 run partnership. Megha got 28 and Kate got 16.

At the closing ceremony Caitlin was MVP. The next morning was another early one. We got woken up at 4am. We packed and headed to the airport. On the last flight (Christchurch to Dunedin) there was a bit of turbulence. We had an amazing time away at the tournament, played some good cricket, made some new friends and we will cherish the memories for a long time.