Day 6: Finally the opening ceremony! We all had to dress up as gentlemen and the accompanying women dressed up as well for the traditional photoshoot in the hotel lobby. After going through individual portrait photos and family photos, we gathered for the traditional team photo after spending almost 30 minutes trying to pin up the US flag behind the players! Then it was a half mile march to the venue of the opening ceremony – the Alex Surf Club. Every country had an interesting “formal” uniform and the players crowded into a small banquet/dining room for more team pictures and some socializing. It was a pretty low key opening ceremony with the highlight being the sight of the 12 country flags flying beachside.

Day 7: Yay! The first game is about to begin – or is it? It had rained for 12 hours straight overnight and while we were all waiting in the lobby for the bus to pick us up for the first game we got the disappointing news that all games were called off because of unplayable ground conditions and probably the next days’ games were also going to be called off. We now suddenly had a full day with energy and nothing to spend it on. We decided to get together in the evening for a BBQ dinner at the terrace with various players and spouses offering to make items for a potluck dinner. That meant trips to Indian grocery store and supermarket to get stuff and a day of cricket turned instead into a day of cooking! The dinner was hosted at Masood and Kirit’s apartment and we had a blast with fun and music. Most of the items for dinner ended up coming from the kitchen of Adam and Eve  (Mr and Mrs Haroon).

We also took this opportunity to thank Mihir for all the effort he has put in over several months to make this trip a reality. With white clothing he could even become a polititcian!

Day 8: Now with another full but empty day ahead, the one piece of good news was that all the washed out games were going to get rescheduled. The downside (as if playing too much cricket ever has a downside) was that we now had to play 3 back to back 45 over games and then after a day of rest two more and then a day of rest and then another two – in all 7 games in 9 days! I would like to challenge any youngster of any age to try to achieve this marathon of 45 over cricket games! Only time will tell how the 60+ year old bodies hold up by mid September. Most people went sight seeing for the day – to the zoo and for boat rides and on hikes. By evening, it was time to refocus on cricket with a session of stretching and strategy.