Cup volunteers on the ball

World Cup volunteer Fred Hansen says driving people around has been sheer pleasure. Picture / Christine Cornege

Just over 2000 doing great work across the country

When Fred Hansen was asked to help interview for volunteers for the Cricket World Cup 2015, he jumped at the chance to be one himself.

The retired air traffic controller is a regular volunteer as well as a keen cricket fan, and during the World Cup he has become a fleet centre supervisor in Hamilton, one of the seven host cities.

The Black Caps take on Bangladesh at the city's Seddon Park at 2pm tomorrow.

Mr Hansen, from Cambridge, gets to drive cricket officials including umpires and VIPs around.

Highlights have included meeting World Cup ambassador Sir Richard Hadlee and another former Black Cap Gavin Larsen.

"I think if you ask any of the volunteers in here that have driven people it's just been sheer pleasure."

Some of the 40 drivers took a crew of Indian journalists to the Hobbiton movie set near Matamata, he said.

The 66-year-old said he got a buzz out of volunteering, though he didn't get to go to the games. "It's just a good thing to do, to meet people, to give something back to the community."

Cricket World Cup spokesman Philip Clark said there were just over 2000 volunteers around the country spread across Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.

They operated across eight programmes including fleet centre drivers, spectator and fan services, and media and broadcast volunteers.

Those dealing with broadcast commentators had met cricket stars such as bowling great Australian Shane Warne and former renowned English batsman Geoffrey Boycott.

"There's a lot of people like Fred who have got a rich history in volunteering. A lot did their first bit of volunteering with the Rugby World Cup and jumped at the chance to do another world cup with cricket."

And there were more younger volunteers, Mr Clark said.

The volunteers, recruited in March and September last year and trained in January, are co-ordinated by Cricket World Cup staff.

"There are some who are cricket tragics and just want to be a part of it but generally these are just regular Kiwis who love giving back to the community."