Malins channels Trescothick as Saracens turn out in charity cricket match

Relations between Saracens and England's cricketing fraternity have hardly smelt of roses this summer following the infamous Rex Rooms incident that partly led to Ben Stokes's retirement from international cricket. On Wednesday afternoon in Taunton, however, there was a coming together that restored cordiality.

In front of nigh-on 3,000 spectators at the County Ground, Jamie George, the England and Saracens hooker, led a side of rugby men from Saracens and cricketers from Somerset against an equivalent team, skippered by the county's captain, Lewis Gregory. The likes of Owen Farrell, Ben Earl and Alfie Barbeary featured alongside Peter Trego on George's side. Elliot Daly, Max Malins and Nick Tompkins joined Gregory, who is enjoying his testimonial season, Jamie Overton and Jack Leach, among others. The match, in which George's side emerged victorious, must have been one of the only cricket matches taking place in England on Wednesday not interrupted by rain.

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Amid the fun and games – and there were plenty – the match had a serious motive, as funds and awareness were being raised for the MND Association. Poignantly, Lewis Moody, who has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, was among the guests of honour in Taunton. Never one to shy away from a challenge, even against the odds, Moody must have been impressed by the way in which some of the Saracens lads who were challenged in a cricketing sense – notably Barbeary – took the task in front of a crowd which was larger than expected. The 3.45pm start had to be delayed by 15 minutes to allow everyone to enter the ground.

"I got to know [Somerset's] Tom Kohler-Cadmore through some fundraising for his son and he mentioned that it was Lewis Gregory's testimonial," George said. "It escalated from there, really. Especially when Lewis was saying we could do it for MND and raise some money and awareness, it was an absolute no-brainer. I'm so grateful to the Sarries boys for playing on their one day off for the week.

"It's great to have Lewis Moody here, too. It's been at the front of our minds: we are here to put some smiles on faces and have a laugh but, equally, it's important to put a smile on Lewis's face and raise some awareness and money."

Gregory's side batted first, with prop Phil Brantingham and lock Hugh Tizard, surely one of the tallest men to grace the Taunton turf since Joel Garner, opening against George's equivalent of Sir Viv Richards and Ian Botham: fly-half Fergus Burke and centre Olly Hartley.

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Agricultural? That might not do it justice. Tizard spooned one up to the trio of Burke, Earl and Farrell in the first over and the former showed some impressive nominative determinism, as all three left the ball to each other only to watch it thump into the turf. And I am absolutely sure that Overton's Somerset team-mates will not forget in a hurry that the England international ended up nicking the bowling off rugby's Hartley with only four runs off four balls.

Daly, an England Under-15s cricketer, arrived with much promise, and did thump Leach for four off his first ball, but was out for nine after the spinner cleaned him up. "Elliot must be disappointed with that," George added with his tongue in his cheek, although Daly did take a wicket with his first ball when his team were in the field.

For Gregory, Malins was the star, channelling his inner Marcus Trescothick and trudging off with a virtuoso 89 to his name, in which he dispatched all comers, including Leach and Trego. One Trego bouncer was effortlessly dispatched for six by Malins and, in one of the shots of the day, the full-back thrashed George into the third floor of the nearby retirement flats. Meanwhile, the less said about Barbeary's bowling the better. You know it is bad when the crowd is slow hand-clapping and the PA starts playing the Benny Hill theme.

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"They were in a bit of a pickle so I thought: 'Let's get Alfie on and get them some runs on the board'," George grinned. "We're here for charity! I didn't bowl properly and we needed to make a game of it!"

Chasing 194, Leach and Barbeary opened and, scoring 43, the former might have been taking it a little bit too seriously. Someone who undoubtedly did was Trego, who hit the match-winning contribution of 63 alongside Hartley's 32. Earl, a handy cricketer in his youth, will not want to be reliving his golden duck in a hurry. Earl's wicket was the quickest surrendering in Taunton since Perkin Warbeck in 1497.

With the match going down to the final over, the crowd left thrilled, with smiles and joy all round. Job done.

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