Record-holding Blunham eye backing

Mike Gatting, right, alongside Blunham captain Neil Wildon, supported the club's effort two years ago when they played for 55 hours

Blunham Cricket Club from Bedfordshire are seeking a shirt sponsor for an attempt to smash their record for the longest non-stop game of cricket.

Blunham, who two years ago set a landmark with a 55-hour match, are seeking to nearly double that by playing for the maximum duration of the Lord’s Test over the August bank holiday weekend - 105 hours.

The club, who appeared on Sky Sports’ ‘Cricket AM’ show on Saturday morning, will be raising money for Breast Cancer Research, Orchid, Sue Ryder Homes, plus funds for the completion of their pavilion.

However, they are seeking a new sponsor for their pink and purple kit after the original one pulled out at the 11th hour.

They already have a series of attractions besides the cricket, with the main event a soul and swing night on the Saturday.

With all the players involved hailing from Blunham CC, club captain Neil Wildon is anticipating over half those who set the record two years ago to take part again.

“It’s about 60:40,” he told ecb.co.uk. “There are some people who just felt for their own reasons, sometimes health, sometimes other things that they didn’t want to do it.

“We’ve got one or two who really like their sleep and just decided that last time was too much and didn’t want to do it again.

“It’s a mixture and you need a mixture because if you’re doing it the onus is on you to get a lot of personal sponsorship.

“Doing it a second time around it’s a lot harder to get all those people to sponsor you again so it’s nice to have a fair degree of new people because they’ve got different contacts.”

The club is taking preparations seriously, having sought the advice of several health experts, including a member of the Wildon family.

“We’ve have a gentleman in from Lucozade who has given us advice on what to take, when to take, mainly fluid, to a degree food,” the club skipper added.

“Obviously there are things to help us sleep and things we can take to help us stay awake.

“And also we’ve got a nurse on board, who happens to be my wife, who is doing blood-pressure tests, urine tests, tests for dehydration and also weighing us for fluid loss to make sure that we replace enough fluids.”