Celebrities bowl over crowds at Hampstead cricket match

A team of celebrities including actress Emma Thompson and Downton Abbey butler Jim Carter put their batting skills to the best at a charity match to bring the cricket season to an end.

West Hampstead resident Ms Thompson bowled the first ball in the annual Hampstead Cricket Club celebrity match at the club grounds in Lymington Road on Sunday (September 18).

Downton Abbey actor and cricket club chairman Jim Carter said: “It was a very close game and the celebrity team only just clinched it thanks to a big hit from Greg Wise. It was a fantastic day and a wonderful finale to our cricket season.”

There were famous faces off the pitch as well - as six members of the Downton Abbey cast cheered support from the stands.

The match raised money for junior club cricket and the Anthony Nolan Trust, a bone marrow charity.

The charity uses its register to match people willing to donate blood stem cells or bone marrow to patients with blood cancer who need lifesaving transplants.

Donors for the charity were also recruited on the day.