Sunday 17th December

The Clear White Ferns have spent the last two days off campus enjoying some rest and relaxation. These two days were exactly what the team needed and the benefits were evident at our training session today which was very intensive.

A lot has happened in the past few days. Firstly we won our final pool match against England on Thursday and we are now looking ahead to our semi-final encounter with India on Wednesday.

After our match against the English, both teams went out for dinner to a beautiful winery in Tai Tapu. It was a great night and a good opportunity to spend some time with the English players before they return home.

On the Friday morning we had a team debrief, followed by a pool session and then dispersed at midday, knowing that we would be reunited again on Saturday evening at the CricInfo Christmas Party.

The band that I play in Christchurch, "The Fab 3" entertained the guests at the function through until 1pm playing a mix of old and new music. All the teams were in fine form with Julia Price (Australia) showing some hidden talents on the bass guitar! Five of the Dutch team got up for an impromptu song from the band "Five" and the Irish… well the Irish were keen to get up there at every opportunity.

There was some sensational dancing to be seen from the stage with a number of players showing tremendous flexibility and at times double jointed-ness – it was very funny!

The highlight of the night was probably towards the end of the evening when the band and the entire crowd gathered together to sing "Angels " by Robbie Williams! It was huge.

CricInfo should be congratulated on what was an excellent Christmas party for all of the teams. Andrew Cornaga from Photosport was there with lens in hand and I am sure that there will be some brilliant photos from the evening.

Today we have reassembled at Lincoln and have just completed a three-hour training session.

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