A SKY News Sports presenter won a prestigious national volunteering award earlier this month for a charity cricket match he organised in Harpenden.

Jon Desborough, weekday afternoon presenter, was awarded the Chance to Shine Volunteer of the Year Award at the Brit Achievement Awards.

He created ‘Hitting 50’, a charity celebrity cricket match at Harpenden Cricket Club to raise money and celebrate his half century.

England cricket star Jade Dernbach presented the award at Lord’s Cricket Ground earlier this month.

Sir Mervyn King, Bank of England Governor and Chance to Shine President, attended the awards along with England captains Andrew Strauss and Charlotte Edwards and England player Chris Tremlett.

Chance to Shine is the Cricket Foundation’s charitable campaign to recognise people who give up their time to help run cricket clubs in schools.

Hitting 50, held in September, raised �20,000 despite torrential rain on the day.

Jon said: “When I was a kid at school, cricket was my first love but the difficulty was there was not much of a team and we did not have any kit and equipment. It would have been great if Chance to Shine was around back then.

“When I was 47 I got back into the game and when I reached the age of 49 I thought, hang on a second, there’s a big birthday coming up and I should organise something a bit special.

“I wanted to do it for Chance to Shine as I wanted to say, ‘where was something like this when I was a kid.’?”

Jon played in the match alongside Gloucestershire wicket keeper, Jonathan Batty, Kevin O’Brien, of Ireland and Gloucestershire and former England players Angus Fraser, Alex Tudor and Jack Rusell.

And TV presenters Dermot Murnaghan, Kay Burley, Lucy Versamy, Georgie Thompson and Sarah Jane Mee cheered players on from the side lines.