Wellington firefighters bowl over police in cricket clash

The police and our firefighters often team up together to keep communities safe and manage emergencies.

But, on Wednesday (24 March) friendships were put to one side as the best cricketers from Wellington and the Hutt’s career stations took on the best from Wellington police.

The game was played over 22 overs aside, each player bowling two overs with  the batting line ups pulled out of a hat.

A lively pitch at the Petone Recreation Ground in Lower Hutt greeted the two sides and the Firefighters XI started with a roar. Balls were flying all over the ground, as the team raced to 60 odd for three off the first six overs.

Run scoring was easy for the Firefighting XI, but wickets continued to tumble.

The side didn’t bat out its allotted overs but put up a very respectable 175.

The star of the show was Senior Firefighter Leigh Kelly from Hutt City, who smacked a very impressive 40.

Team manager, Sam Coleman (Senior Fire Fighter, Avalon) says they were happy with the total.

“We knew it would be a tough one for the Police XI to reel in. So, we were hoping to bowl well, that the police would overindulge at lunch and that they would luck out with their batting order.”

It turns out luck was on the Firefighting XI’s side.

While the fire batsmen roared out the gate, the Police XI took a slow and steady approach and ran out of overs in their pursuit of 176 to win.

They finished up 12 runs short, scoring 163 off their 22 overs.

The police side finished in a flurry and if there was one more over available, it is likely they may have achieved the 176 they needed to win.

This was the first game between the two sides and the Firefighting XI is expecting the Police XI to come back even stronger next year.