This year’s county community cricket day, sponsored by the independent charity Crimestoppers, was hailed a great success and saw a win for the police team for the first time in four years [5 July 2012].
 
Held on Sunday 24 June at Watford Town Cricket Club, cricket enthusiasts joined members of the Hertfordshire Crimestoppers Committee and Hertfordshire Police Authority to watch a community team play against a team of Hertfordshire Police officers and staff. The Police Team was captained by former Assistant Chief Constable Chris Miller, who retired earlier this year.

Last year the community team beat the police team by 10 runs. This year the police team were triumphant after scoring 122 for 7 wickets against the community team who scored 117 all out.

Brenda Griffiths, a member of Hertfordshire Police Authority and a Hertfordshire Crimestoppers volunteer who helped organise the day, said: “This was another exciting day of cricket. The weather was kind to us eventually and the community did really well. They were great sports and we would like to thank them for coming along to enjoy the day."

Ann Scott, Eastern Regional Manager for Crimestoppers, added: “This was a real opportunity for the community to get involved and find out more about Crimestoppers who attended the event. Another way of getting involved in your community is by becoming a Crimestoppers volunteer in Hertfordshire. We are always looking for new volunteers who would like to organise such events for us, have marketing/media skills and want to help up fundraise. If you are interested in volunteering you can get more information at http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/support-us/volunteers."

The event started at 2pm and ran until 6.30pm, and trophies sponsored by Crimestoppers were given to individual winners as well as the overall winning team. Individual awards were for:

• Outstanding Fielding Performance – awarded to Inspector Kio Borzorgi
• Outstanding Bowling Performance – awarded to Sandeep Shinagare
• Man of the Match – awarded to Sergeant Dominic Fitzgerald

PC Irfan Ishaq, one of the event’s main organisers, said: “The match was delayed by two hours due to rain, however as the weather improved and the match got underway and I am delighted to say some fantastic cricket was played.

“For the past four years the community team have reigned as winners, however I am pleased to say that this year the police team broke this pattern and took the winning trophy home.

“Overall, it was a great day and a fantastic opportunity for members of the public to find out about the work of the police, the Police Authority and independent charity Crimestoppers.”
 
Next year’s match is scheduled for June 2013.