Paul Watson just loves to play against his former school teacher! When he was 18, whilst batting for his home club Horden in a cup tie against Durham City, he hit three consecutive sixes off the bowling of Gary Hulme who taught him at Howletch Comprehensive School, Peterlee.

Twenty years on, from Hulme's final over for Eppleton in the Bass Tom Burn Cup tie at Ryhope recently, where Watson is now professional, he did even better, blasting six successive sixes - which matched the feat of last year's The Northern Echo Cricketer of the Year, Anthony McMahon.

"I've come out on top against Gary but he has also claimed my wicket on a few occasions," said Watson who is in his second year as professional with the Wearside club.

"I never thought I would beat the three sixes I took off him two decades ago and obviously I'll cherish the memory of hitting every ball from his last over, out of the ground.

"It was just one of those nights and I think it's fair to say that every shot was a clean hit. All the sixes went either over long-on or long-off and the final one went over the top of the club house.

"Even though the Ryhope ground is not big, it is still a fair hit to put the ball almost onto the main road."

Watson began as a ten-year old and spent 26 years with Horden, with the exception of one season as a junior with South Hetton, before joining Ryhope.

"It was a good move on our part and of course Paul has written his name into the record books with us," enthused Ryhope official Mattie Summerside who witnessed, for the second time, six sixes being recorded in an over.

"Four years ago, my grandson Philip Hutchinson was on the receiving end of Chris Pringle who hit him for six sixes playing for Silksworth in the Durham Coast under-18 League.

"Philip was four years younger than Chris who really took him apart. Actually, Philip conceded 37 runs in the over because he also bowled a wide!"

While Watson now plays a leading role for Ryhope, 18-year old Hutchinson also turns out for the club and last Sunday represented the Coast League under-21 team.

"I was over the moon to witness Paul taking 36 runs off an over. Perhaps it will help to erase the memory of Philip being taken to the cleaners," quipped Summerside.

Watson, meanwhile, just savours the moment. "It is one of those things which will almost certainly never happen again."

At Durham's Chester-le-Street ground on Tuesday, McMahon met up with one of the game's greats Sir Garfield Sobers who hit his 36 an over in 1968 while playing for Notts against Glamorgan.

Sobers - who, along with Ravi Shastri, is one of only two professionals to have totalled the ultimate over - was at the Riverside ahead of an appearance at a charity dinner. He took time to chat to McMahon about the feat only a select band of cricketers can boast, and Watson has now joined the elite.

McMahon's achievement not only won him our inaugural cricketer of the year award but also earned him a cherished place in the Guinness Book of Record as the youngest person to have hit six sixes.