It was not hard for match sponsor, St Johns School, to select their Man of the Match on Saturday when Sidbury Cricket Club hosted regular touring side Not The MCC.

Barney Stone dominated the home team’s performance, first with ball, and later, most superbly, with bat.

Batting first, the touring openers gave their lower order time to recover from their previous evening’s exploits by building a very solid foundation.

It was youngster Harvey Bennett who eventually broke the partnership taking the first of his two wickets, but not before 70 runs and been scored.

The retirement of the other opener prompted more regular wickets which heartened the home side as the total looked likely to be competitive.

However, the visiting skipper’s quick fire 50 shifted the balance back in favour of the touring side as they eased towards 200. Once he had retired though, wickets again fell quickly - too quickly in fact as the returning retirees put on another 50 in the last five overs leaving Sidbury a somewhat daunting 250 to chase.

Stone took three wickets and Joe Gosse, the most economical bowler, was unlucky not to be rewarded with a wicket. Colt, Alfie Crick picked up a well-earned wicket at the death, Chris FitzHenry being the other wicket-taker. Steve Peacock’s brave fielding deserves special mention, battling on after sustaining a nasty head wound.

After tea, captain for the day, Josh reed urged his team to believe the unlikely was possible and a steady start from Marcus Bennet and Jon Gosse boded well. When Gosse fell, Richard Green hit some fine strikes, but was unlucky to be magnificently caught in cow corner. This brought Barney to the crease who proceeded to put on a wonderful demonstration of clean hitting. Supported for a while by brother, Alex, Barney smashed nine fours and nine sixes, on his way to an unbeaten 134. Despite this fantastic innings, and some support from the lower order, it was not quite enough, Sidbury falling 25 runs short of their target.

Sidbury’s next game is this Saturday when they entertain Brighton-based team The Greys. The match starts at 2pm.