BOLTON School’s most prestigious fixture of the year met with pleasant conditions both on and off the field.

The Bolton School First XI cricketers faced a skilled Marylebone Cricket Club team in their annual match.

The MCC side were put under pressure by good early seam bowling from experienced duo Ben Bowers and Chris Brownlow, the latter ending up with admirable figures of 1-26.

Eshan Ratnaweera finished with 3-27 coming on late, but in the meantime MCC's Chris Holt scored 68 in the style that only middle order lefthanders can.

Local stalwart Nigel Heaton shared in a more than useful stand, and captain Roland Horridge called the side in at 201-7 after 49 overs.

The school team would have at least the same number of overs, so four an over was a perfectly tempting declaration if a couple of big innings could be forged.

Aggressive cricket played in the same spirit as the recent England vs New Zealand series was the order of the day.

Fraser Kay showed glimmers of form but fell for 26.

Will Davidson failed for once, but Brownlow was starting to produce an innings of real potential.

Unfortunately Holt is an all-rounder and his slow left-armers tempted Brownlow to reach his half century with a boundary, but he fell for 48.

The score then was 126-3, and 17 overs remained to acquire the 75 needed.

Sadly for the School, Holt was to end up with 6-51 and Old Boy Jack Bentham mopped up the tail with 2-7.

The Bolton School team crumpled to 158 all out, losing eight wickets for 32 to reveal their inexperience in this form of match.

The match ended with a 43-run defeat, but it can be hoped that the Bolton School players will learn from every aspect of the MCC approach and put up an even stronger challenge next year.

If you want to find out more about Bolton School then visit the www.boltonschool.org.

n Do you have a school sports story or interesting tale then get in touch via email robert.kelly@nqnw.co.uk or ring 01204 537246.