Kate Middleton News Update: The Duchess of Cambridge didn't hold back when asked to try her hand at a game of cricket with Prince William in New Zealand. In a tailored Lisa Spagnoli red skirt suit and with heels high enough to do the pitch, the Princess hadn't chosen the most appropriate outfit for a spontaneous game. She gamely took a few swings of the bat.

"She was quite nervous but she kept her eye on the ball," former batswoman Debbie Hockley, 51, told the U.K.'s The Telegraph.

"Unfortunately for her, neither did her husband. As the second-in-line to the throne took a run-up and bowled, he let fly 'a wild full toss' that whistled past Kate's ear.

That prompted an amused glare and a wag of the finger from the duchess, but she had been in no real danger of a clonk on the head because the ball, like the bat, was plastic," Daily Mail stated.

Hockley added, "I thought they were great sports to take part in. I couldn't bat in high heels. [The Duchess has] not played before, so it's a pretty good effort, and she did the best she could."

The couple were in Christchurch to publicise the Cricket World Cup, which the city will host next year, when they were roped in to playing a game with youngsters.

Report from the Daily Mail stated that the Duchess managed to hit one ball to mid-off, but missed two further deliveries before handing the bat over to her husband.

William, a keen player in his youth, struck several balls bowled to him by local schoolchildren with unfettered aggression - one again sailing close to his wife's head. "Watch out, this will be a blur," he shouted.

Speaking afterwards Jodie Dean, 11, was unimpressed with Kate's high heels. "It wasn't very realistic," she said.

She bowled two balls to William. "The first ball was too high, a lot too high. My second ball was much better. He hit it; someone fielded it, no runs. I felt a bit better after that ball. He was pretty good."

"Catherine and William were superb. The way they spoke to the children was fantastic. I talked to them about the Cricket World Cup and how it was important for us as a city to have a major world cup and how we're in the process of building an English-style cricket ground. Catherine told me she played cricket at school which was pretty interesting, she didn't say when," said Lee German, chief executive of the New Zealand cricket association and the country's former cricket captain.

The couple also took time to pay tribute to the 185 people who died when an earthquake struck Christchurch in February 2011.