By Alice Wilkins
The annual Halberg Awards celebrate New Zealand's best athletes, but they also raise funds for the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation.
The charity helps kids with disabilities get involved in their favourite sports, and today, two twin brothers from Auckland got to live their cricketing dream.
Arvinth and Ashvin Sathiyaseelan could just be the Black Caps' biggest fans.
But when they made their way to Auckland's Eden Park this morning, they didn't know they were going to meet their heroes in person.
The nine-year-old twin brothers have type-three spinal muscular atrophy, a condition which causes muscle weakness.
With the help of a grant from the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation, the cricket fanatics were able to get involved in their favourite game by playing for a cricket club -- and today, they got to mix with the pros.
"Arvinth and Ash, are cricket nuts," says Shelley McMeeken from the Halberg Disability Sport Foundation. "I asked them who their favourite cricketer was and they listed off the whole team, so for them this is a dream come true."
Although the pair couldn't decide on a favourite player, there was one cricketer they couldn't wait to see - Black Caps captain Brendan McCullum.
"They seemed to be pretty happy with today and I'm sure they'll go home and tell all their friends that they had the opportunity to meet the Kane Williamsons and the Tim Southees of this world, and that's pretty cool when you're in this position," says McCullum.
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