Norfolk's one day captain Ashley Watson joined the select band of cricketers to have taken a hat-trick at Lord's last week – but the moment passed him by!

Watson's was so focused on helping the RAF team to victory in the annual Inter Services Twenty20 competition that he didn't realise he had taken three wickets in three balls until it was pointed out to him afterwards.

'All the lads wanted to win the tournament to mark the centenary of the RAF so after we had beaten the Army it was all about celebrating as a team,' he explained.

'It was only later that I was reminded I had taken a hat-trick at Lord's. It was a strange one as it was spread over two overs, with one bowled and two lbws, but they all count!

'It was a dream day all-round really because before the game I bumped into Sachin Tendulkar, who was at Lord's. He watched us warm-up and we had a little chat, which was great.'

An excellent day for the county skipper at the home of cricket was rounded off when he picked up the player of the tournament award, with the match ball another souvenir.

Watson also took four wickets and top scored with 31 against the Navy, leaving them well short of the required total.

In the game against the Army he took his wicket tally for the day up to eight with overall figures of 4-0-16-4 as the RAF comfortably defended a total of 147-6.

Watson had a big smile on his face again a few days later when his Norfolk side won both games of their double header against Hertfordshire to book their place in the Minor Counties Twenty20 Finals Day at Wormsley on August 26.

'It's great to be able to put that one down in the diary – it's something we can put to one side for a couple of months while we focus on the three-day game,' said Watson, who will be replaced by Chris Brown as skipper in the Minor Counties Championship opener against Lincolnshire at Sleaford, which gets started on Sunday. 'I am really proud of the way the lads played in the two games and now we will be doing our best to win it.'

Norfolk will come up against Devon, Berkshire and Cheshire at the Buckinghamshire venue, and will need to win two games to be crowned champions.