Almost bowled over! Kate narrowly avoids being hit on head by ball as she plays cricket in suit and heels against husband William

The couple were at an engagement in Christchurch, New Zealand, to publicise the Cricket World Cup, which comes to the city in 2015, when they were roped into an impromptu knockabout. Dressed in a scarlet skirt suit and vertiginous black platform suede heels, Kate, 32, stepped gingerly onto the grass at the city's Latimer Square and took up her yellow plastic bat. Her husband was clearly keen to offer her no quarter as he took a run up and bowled, according to onlookers, 'a wild full toss' past her head. Undeterred, the Duchess stepped up again only to be bowled one off-stump by her husband. Fortunately she managed to strike it to mid off. Unfortunately she managed to miss two further balls, before handing the bat over in favour of watching from the sidelines.