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Aussie Bashing in Christchurch

There aren’t many better feelings in sport than seeing the Aussie’s take a beating in front of a partisan crowd, well our luck was in as we ventured into the wacky world of 20/20 cricket in Christchurch.  It was the Blackcaps (NZ) vs. Australia in the new stadium built ready for the World Cup rugby next year, the atmosphere was very jovial and everyone was looking forward to the game.  It must have been the presence of Debbie at her first cricket match but both teams decided to deliver and absolute cracker jack of a match which saw NZ romp to 214 runs with their opening batmen scoring 115, only the second person in history to achieve a century at this format.  Having enjoyed watching the Aussie bowlers be despatched to all corners of the ground including a huge six that landed 4 spectators from us, Debbie moved pretty quick to get out of the way, the crowd could sense a win for the home side.  However in typical fashion the Aussie’s managed to turn certain defeat into a likely victory in the final overs and a nail biting last over remained with 12 needed for the win.  It whittled down to 3 off the final ball and in the chaos that followed somehow they got 2 of the runs before being run out.  That meant after 20 overs each, both teams had scored 214 runs and the dreaded penalty shoot-out of cricket, a one over eliminator where both teams get 6 balls to score as many as possible, something I have never seen in cricket but the crowd were going pretty nuts so it was all good fun.  Thankfully the Aussie’s made a complete mess of the batting and bowling and the Blackcaps got the runs fairly easily to jubilant scenes ensuring the crowds all departed with huge smiles including Debbie who dare I say it actually enjoyed watching live sport!!! We left the stadium with huge smiles, empty bellies (that McDonalds soon helped fill) and a thirst for our next 20/20 match!