My day as mascot at The Hundred

Heidi Page was one of the mascots at Manchester Originals' double-header versus Welsh Fire

Rainhill's Heidi Page, aged 7, was nominated by the club to be a mascot at Manchester Originals men's and women's matches on 16th August. Heidi was chosen from among several nominations by clubs across the region to deliver the coin to the team captain and be present at the toss. Here is her account of the day. I had never been to a Hundred match before but I have been to T20 so it was a bit similar. We got to the ground early and I met the other mascot, Alexandra, who was taking the balls onto the pitch. She was from a club near Bolton.

I thought they would use a real coin for the toss, but for The Hundred there was a special coin. It was quite big and had an H on one side and a T on the other. We had a practice run and then it was time for the real thing. Someone announced that "seven year old Heidi" was bringing on the coin, and then I walked through the tunnel and gave the coin to the Manchester captain, Kate Cross.

Kate lost the toss, but that didn't seem to matter as Manchester Originals won anyway. I didn't know at the time that this was being done live on TV, but a few minutes later my dad got a message from someone who had seen me on TV saying how well I had done.

I got a ball that was signed by Kate Cross, the Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont and Manchester Originals and England player Sophie Ecclestone. Lancashire also gave me a "goody bag" which helpfully had some sunglasses. We watched the women's game which was very good and Manchester Originals won. It was their first win of the season so I must have been a lucky mascot.

Then the men's game came afterwards and I took the coin out again, this time with another mascot called Danyal. Welsh Fire won the toss again but Manchester Originals won the match with some big, big hitting. There were fireworks as the players went onto the field.

There were a lot of supporters there and quite a few from Wales. There was also a lot of entertainment at the ground like bands playing music and an area for children to play. I played all the games and went on the bouncy slide. I did the keeper challenge and scored 144, which I thought was quite good for a 7-year old. it was a good day of cricket and it was great to have been involved in it. Thank you to Peter for nominating me! Heidi will reprise her role as mascot - alongside her sister Xanthe and Siena and Savana Stokoe - at tonight's 100-ball match between Rainhill and South Liverpool.