Stephen Fry adds stardust to cricket match in the Vale of Belvoir

Comedy actor and MCC president, Stephen Fry, watches the game with Kate Bygott, secretary of Belvoir Cricket Club and a trustee of the Belvoir Cricket & Countryside Trust

The star of TV classics Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster plus the movies, Gosford Park and Wilde, dropped in at the Belvoir cricket ground at Knipton on Thursday.

He watched a Duchess of Rutland XI, made up of local cricketers, take on the MCC, the Lord’s-based cricket club for which he is the current president of.

After the match, which the MCC won by 100 runs, Stephen was guest speaker at a dinner held in the state dining room at Belvoir Castle.

The Duchess of Rutland XI and MCC teams line up before the match at Knipton

Batting first, the visiting team made a real statement of intent by taking four boundaries from the first over.

From then on, the fielding side had to work hard to stem the flow of runs, with Bosisto (28) and Longhurst (27) adding 53 for the first wicket.

The run rate was unrelenting as Matt Pardoe amassed 90 not out off 70 deliveries, with valuable support from first Ullyott (10) and then Ellis, who added 41 from 32.

MCC ended on 223-5 from their 30 overs, with Warner and Belvoir’s own Tom Lindsay and Demetri Lucas sharing the wickets.

MCC captain James Overy and Duchess of Rutland XI skipped Darren Bicknell pictured at the toss with umpires, A Wade and R Patel

The Duchess’s XI made a poor start, losing Tom Keast and Warner (13), before Dobson (18) and Trower (22) took the score past 60 to bring their side back into the game.

Three quick wickets swung the game back MCC’s way, only for Tom Neville (12) and Lucas (23) to add some enterprising runs.

Nick Keast played some bold strokes to add 15 until MCC skipper Overy (3-8) brought himself on and wickets began to fall steadily.

With the overs running out, the innings came to a close on 123, well adrift of the MCC total.

Matt Pardoe earned the Vic Heppenstall Spirit of Cricket Award for his 90 and three catches – as well as two drops! – while the victorious MCC team were presented with the Imogen Skirving Memorial Trophy, taking a 7-6 lead in this annual series of matches.

The annual feature game is held to showcase the work of sports and education charity, the Belvoir Cricket & Countryside Trust, which this year is on course to reach over 4,000 children for the second year running.