He passed the landmark with a huge six on his way to 107 not out.

Sudbury were looking to bounce back after two defeats and were asked to bat on a damp wicket.

John Phillips and Pete Siegert got them off to a solid start with a partnership of 38 before two quick wickets fell.

Kent, in fine form, soon reached his 50 but was unable to find willing partners until Andrew Mansfield on debut made a solid contribution of 16, playing some attacking shots as the pair put on 51. A Simmons joined Kent, providing useful resistance.

Sudbury made the best start possible with Kent picking up three quick wickets, one of which was a smart catch behind to Mansfield who went on to produce a faultless display behind the stumps on a tricky pitch.

Simmons and Kent stifled the visitors and went on to pick up five wickets each after Coggeshall briefly threatened.

With Billy Moulton-Day on Lord's staff duty, Rupert Melville-Ross bowled his usual consistent line and length.

Sudbury had to cope with a pitch that had 2.5 inches of rain on it at the Suffolk county ground of Ransomes sports club. But, to be fair, the wicket had little to do with most of the dismissals.

Macdiarmid was unlucky to go early lbw, Shropshire played across the line, Cook got a good one, as did O Caar. Harvey slashed at a wide one that went away and O'Brien clipped one to midwicket.

Meanwhile, Matt Caar was showing that good technique and application would overcome the conditions. Eventually supported by Robins, he crept the score up to 80 before Caar danced down the wicket to Richards – and was stumped. The young tail, with so many overs to bat, acquitted themselves well and with a more positive approach and youthful enthusiasm picked up 22 runs between them, and with Robins put on 39 altogether.

The final score of 119 was not really competitive but at least gave Sudbury something to bowl at. With all-out attack chances had to be taken but would not go to hand as runs from the edge soon mounted up.

St Margarets applied themselves well to the task, but could only take 27 off Robins' 16 overs, 10 of which came in one over. Chambers was unlucky to have catches dropped by Shropshire and O Caar, however the latter recovered for a run-out.

Shropshire picked up the only other wicket to earn a point and justify his travel expenses. Next week the seconds, who remain sixth in the table, are at home to Bardfield village at 1pm.

It was nearly Sudbury's first super Sunday as both sides looked like winning, but the division C team could not quite pass the finishing line.

They restricted Ipswich to 138, Ed Pickering taking four wickets and Phil Halliday three, while David Chambers and Ben Hyett complemented each other with alternate off and legspin to mop up some wickets between them.

In reply Sudbury were cruising, Andy Holness scoring 41, Hyett 31 and Dan Harvey 20, but with just 15 needed to win Sudbury lost five quick wickets and a valiant effort by David Chambers and Matt Griffith at the end was quashed as the latter was bowled with two balls left, four runs short.

The Sunday first team had a good win at Exning to allow a little breathing space at the lower end of Hunts Division 1. Bowling first, they restricted Exning to 171, Tom Lockwood fresh from a break on Saturday taking three wickets and Ben Reece back to form after his four-week wicket drought, picking up another.

Jon Kent finished his super weekend with a couple of wickets and 40 runs in support of new man Darren Batch.

A teacher at Hedingham School it has taken Darren three years to find Sudbury but in his first appearance he struck a fluent 83 not out, putting away bad balls from the start and guiding the team home by six wickets.