Day one at the cricket

By Volunteer, Nicci Gregg

It may have been a typical Northern Irish rainy day at Stormont yesterday (Thursday) but that certainly didn't dampen the spirits of our sports teams or our volunteers.

Arriving at Stormont Estate I was greeted by plenty of smiling faces and various sporting teams as the 5 a-side soccer was sharing a venue with the cricket. Unfortunately the Dublin Fire Service had to pull out of today's match against the PSNI but filling in at the last minute, the Northern Ireland Combined Services pulled together a team.  We even had a surprise visit from an Australian team who had took a wrong turn on the way to their Shaws Bridge venue, of course they took time to have a Guinness here before setting off again, let's hope their sporting abilities are better than their map reading abilities.

Waiting for the rain to ease off gave all the competitors and volunteers time to get to know each other which was really good fun, and certainly made sure this years games is living up to the title of 'The Friendliest Games Ever'.  We were even treated to some traditional Brazilian music from the Brazil Policia soccer team who had brought their own drums.

As we finally got ready for a match to begin at 2:00pm the sun decided to show its face and the teams wasted no time getting the action started.  Unfortunately I had to leave the event before the end of the game as I had to go and speak on the Alan Simpson Show on BBC Radio Ulster live from the opening ceremony but as I left the PSNI boys were in the lead.

The opening ceremony at the kings Hall had the most amazing atmosphere when I arrived, there were hundreds of people there to welcome our competitors and I took a sneak peak into the performers rehearsal area and saw some cheer leaders and a rather large shark/fish like model, so it's sure to be a great night for Belfast, and a great games for everyone.

Further information about the cricket is available at: http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/cricket-2020