The marathon men of Blunham

Former England skipper Mike Gatting talks to organiser Neil Wildon on Friday afternoon

While England will be trying to get one over Australia next summer, a group of players from Bedfordshire have already got the better of our friends from Down Under.

On Sunday 21st September, Blunham wrested back the world record for the longest continuous game of cricket which was held by a club in Queensland who rattled up 50 hours and 18 minutes.

Cornwall CC, in Auckland, are waiting to see if their 55 hour marathon will be ratified but Blunham smashed that by clocking up an astonishing 59 hours, 33 minutes and 56 seconds.

While proud of their achievement, the overriding ambition was to raise money to renovate the pavilion and build new nets for their increasingly bulging colt section. Following vast sponsorship and an auction, the fund was swelled by £23,000.

"To go through something like that was just amazing," said Nick Harding who was one of 24 players to take part. "But I was too shattered to celebrate so I went home and had to be helped upstairs to bed by my girlfriend."

What started out with a speculative email, titled 'what do you think?' and with details of the UK best time of 35 hours by a team in Chestfield, soon became a logistical monster.

Blunham begin their record attempt

Selecting 24 players to take part proved relatively straight-forward in contrast to the list of criteria which needed to be ticked off for a record attempt to be counted as official.

Fellow Blunham player Neil Wildon assembled an army of volunteers who acted as witnesses, umpires, scorers, stewards and first-aiders while there was also the small matter of floodlights and a video camera with enough memory to record the action.

With everything finally in place, Harding tore in to bowl off his full run-up at 9am on a sunny Friday morning to get the record attempt underway.

It would be the first of 1,000 overs which would be delivered over the weekend which considering the summer's wash-outs equated to roughly the same amount as the club's county league campaign.

Former England captain and current ECB Managing Director, Cricket Partnerships, Mike Gatting lent his support from the boundary during the afternoon but he wisely decided to find sanctuary by the time the floodlights were switched on.

Despite using pink balls, fielding became increasingly perilous although spirits were raised, and drunk, by the supporters who braved the dropping temperatures and watched the players go through the night.

"Never again will I moan about fielding 46 overs in the blistering heat," joked Harding.

The world record tumbles on Sunday

With players stacking up on carbohydrates and managing the occasional snooze, the game drifted through Saturday with seven players rattling up centuries.

"Few will forget Dave 'Milkfloat' McAdam’s whirlwind innings of 168," said Harding. "But it was also nice to see Dominic Aloia, Chris Hudson, David Cooper and Matt Benson all score their maiden centuries."

Appropriately, and totally coincidental, the Red Arrows stormed past as Blunham crept past the official record. But the club were not finished just yet and when the stumps were pulled up on Sunday evening, they had been playing for almost 60 hours.

"A big thank you to the army of volunteers out there," said Harding. "The umpires, scorers, our groundsmen who did a superb job, our photographer, stewards, first aid personnel, witnesses, sponsors and to all those who turned up to watch.

"We dedicate our effort to Bob Desborough, former groundsman and player, who was sadly lost to cancer a few years ago. I can’t help but think that he had some role in the red arrows flying overhead just before the record went."