CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand: Cricket and high fashion may seem strange bedfellows, but Prince William’s wife Kate combined both with aplomb on Monday in New Zealand when she showed off her batting skills in heels.

The duchess and duke of Cambridge faced off in a light-hearted match during the British royals’ visit to Christchurch, providing a moment of levity ahead of a remembrance service for victims of an earthquake that devastated the South Island city in 2011. Clad in a scarlet Luisa Spagnoli skirt suit and black heels, Kate made an unlikely sight as she strode to the crease clutching a yellow plastic bat, her face a picture of concentration as William prepared to bowl from the other end.

His first ball was a fizzing bouncer that narrowly missed his wife’s head, prompting her to wag her finger at him while the umpire warned the second in line to the throne to find a better line and length.

Kate did manage to get bat on ball but it was William who impressed most with the blade, smashing a hook shot off one young bowler and dispatching another ball to the boundary. “It’s not a very wide pitch, there was no warm-up, and he bowled with a jacket on. I was impressed,” said legendary New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee, who acted as wicketkeeper for the game in Christchurch’s Latimer Square.