On a rain affected Saturday in Guernsey, six teams battled it out for the first points on the leader board. At the end of the day, it was Italy, Jersey and Germany who were able to collect a win apiece and put points on the table. Denmark, having had their match against Norway abandoned this afternoon, will be ready to take to the field tomorrow for their first game of the event.

Host country Guernsey came into today full of optimism ahead of a double-header in front of a sizeable home crowd, first coming up against local rivals Jersey, before facing a hungry German side that they managed to overcome in a warm up match two days prior. Batting first in the morning game, Guernsey were disappointed to score 108 runs for 6 wickets and knew that they would have to put up a strong defence in the field with rain looking likely to disrupt the second innings.

Not wasting any time, the Jersey batters were keen to get ahead of DLS and stay there. Their positive approach paid off, with Jersey batter Ben Stevens scoring the winning runs in the 15th over, rounding off a strong performance from the Jersey side and putting them top of the standings on net run rate after the first day’s play.

In the second match at KGV, after a swift but sharp shower during the lunch interval, Germany prevailed over the host country in an entertaining encounter. Batting first, the locals got off to a strong start, with 74 runs off the first 10 overs. However, Germany came back strong in the field, and, having removed opener Ashley Wright (43 runs from 36 balls) were able to restrict the score to 117 from the 20 overs. In the reply, Guernsey was lively in the field, creating run-out opportunities and applying pressure. Rain threatened to disrupt the game at time, but Germany were able to get across the line with the help of some big sixes from Craig Meschede. In the end, Germany chased down the Guernsey total in 17 overs for the loss of 5 wickets.

Meanwhile at College Field, Norway took on Italy in their opening fixture. Norway opener Raza Iqbal showed great intent, hitting 7 boundaries on his way to 39 runs before being caught in the 10th over. The momentum was still in Norway’s favour with a late flurry of runs from player of the match Walid Ghauri (44 not out) and partner Ansar Iqbal (40 runs from 33 balls) to set a highly competitive total of 151/3 from the 20 over innings.

With rain looming overhead and a bit of moisture in the air, the Italian batters utilised the late overs in the power play to jump ahead on DLS. At the end of the 10th over, with the Italians on 85 for 1, heavy rain brought the game to a speedy conclusion and a revised total of 65 for the Norwegians meant a 20-run victory for Italy.

Unfortunately, that proved to be it for the day with no further play possible at College Field due to further heavy rain throughout lunch which left a wet patch on the square. This meant the scheduled afternoon clash between Nordic sides Norway and Denmark was abandoned and will now be re-scheduled for 10:45 BST on Monday 17th June.