By Claire Taylor England cricketer, wintering in NZ

The domestic season for women's cricket in New Zealand will soon be underway.

The teams have been named and final preparation is under way.

The Canterbury side meets twice a week for net sessions, fielding practice and open wicket work.

For my third warm Christmas in four years, I'll be staying in Christchurch

Club cricket has been very profitable for me over the past few weeks with two big hundreds, scores of 175 and 161.

More importantly for me I was not out in both innings and batted for more than 45 overs all told.

I was brought back down from such heights with a duck in a state warm-up match - cricket's a great leveller!

The physical fitness side of things is getting harder. Having just finished eight weeks of general conditioning, I'm moving onto more specific conditioning.

Taylor is one of England's most experienced batters

For me, this means building power and anaerobic fitness, lots of hard circuit and shuttle work, jumping, hopping, bouncing and striding.

In all there are around 10 sessions to fit in each week ranging from cardio to strength, power, core and shoulder stability.

Throw in a yoga class and some sports massage for recovery, four cricket sessions and a game on Saturdays and the week gets very busy indeed.

I've been checking the internet for news on the England men's results over in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The way that the tail batted in Galle was very heartening, particularly against Murali in his back yard.

It's an area I think we've let ourselves down in the past and bodes well for the rest of the series in Kandy and beyond.

There's been a lot of coverage over here of the Black Caps, the New Zealand men, and their tour to Pakistan.

I've also been keeping up with the White Ferns, the New Zealand Women, who are touring India.

England's rugby win makes me want to be part of a team that can go to a World Cup and win it

The three Canterbury girls in the team are performing well but the team is suffering from an inability to take wickets on Indian decks.

For my third warm Christmas in four years, I'll be staying in Christchurch.

Any plans to catch up with Romper (the other Clare Taylor) in Dunedin or have a couple of beers have been scuppered by the scheduling of a state training session at 9am on Boxing Day.

We play against Wellington on 27 and 28 of December and we need to make the most of the time that our White Ferns are back with us.

Coverage of the rugby over here was excellent, which wasn't surprising.

More surprising perhaps was the number of Kiwis supporting the Aussies.

There was a lot of talk around an England Kiwi final and then lots of talk of axes swinging when the All Blacks failed to make the final.

It was great to watch an England team win a major tournament, it makes me want to be part of a team that can go to a World Cup and win it.