BURY St Edmunds Cricket Club has been praised for its organisation of the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at the Victory Ground.

Simon Porter, president of the Minor Counties Cricket Association, was making his first visit to Suffolk to see last Sunday’s match between the Unicorns and Essex.

Porter, a former Oxfordshire player who is well travelled in his current role, said: “What the club achieved was a terrific advert for Minor Counties cricket.

“The club and its volunteers produced a first-class set up, from the advertising hoardings around the ground to the stewarding.

“It was spectacular to see more than 1,000 people inside the ground, and Essex would be happy to have a crowd of that size at Chelmsford when they play the Unicorns there.

“All credit to Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club which did the Minor Counties proud,” he added.

Former Suffolk skipper Phil Caley was responsible for bringing the match to Suffolk in his role as chairman of the Minor Counties cricket committee.

He said: “The day was a big success, although it was a shame it coincided with the Bury Sevens rugby and the South Suffolk Show.

“Unfortunately the Unicorns could not produce enough runs to give Essex a competitive total to chase, but Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club put a lot of hard work into organising the day and proved to be good hosts.”

Caley said that there was “every possibility” that the Unicorns would return to Bury St Edmunds next season should the team drawn from players without contracts at first-class counties be admitted to the competition and drawn in the same group as Essex again.

“If the Unicorns are invited to participate in next season’s competition and are in the same group as Essex there is every possibility they would play at the Victory Ground again.

“Playing the match at Bury St Edmunds has certainly proved to be one of the more successful venues so far for us,” he added.

Three of the Unicorns home matches – against Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan - are taking place this season at Wormsley, the ground created by John Paul Getty near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

Colwyn Bay (v Lancashire) and Exmouth (v Gloucestershire) are staging the Unicorns’ other two home matches in the competition.