One lucky nine-year-old got one big birthday surprise when he had the chance to meet his sporting heroes at Hagley Oval.
Leo Falloon is crazy about cricket, so as a birthday surprise his mum Karen wrote to the Black Caps, and the Black Caps wrote back.
"Well Leo is a mad, mad cricket fan and a passionate player, in any spare moment he's playing," Leo's mother Karen said.
He had just turned nine, and in that time, Leo had never known normal since the day he was due to be born.
"Leo was due on February 22 2011 and instead of a baby, we were expecting a home birth, we had an earthquake. Our home was rendered uninhabitable and we had to leave and he was born a few days later," Karen explained.
Like many Canterbury kids his age who have been through a lot, Leo carries a fair bit on the inside.
"We don't have a working shower, we're a family of four squashed into two bedrooms, there's gaps in the walls, water leaking through the windows and we've got no heating really,"says Karen.
With a few special keepsakes gifted by his favourite players, Leo even got the chance of a life time to try it out on the pitch with his favourite players.
SHARE ME