BEDFORDSHIRE, UK -- Blunham Cricket Club's first and second teams went head-to-head for 105 hours, batting and bowling around the clock for five days through torrential rain, wind and tiredness - setting the new world record for the Longest cricket match.
Steve Harris, vice president of the Bedfordshire club, said: "We did it, everyone is celebrating in the clubhouse now, and I think we are all just realising what an undertaking it was. We are over the moon to have got it back. The New Zealanders warned us that if we broke their record they would come back after it so we will see if we have to do it all over again."
The previous Guinness World Record for the Longest cricket match was 100 hours. Players are allowed a five minute break every hour. But apart from that the match is being played to standard ECB rules throughout.
Neil Wildon from the Blunham Cricket Club, told BBC Three Counties: "We played through five days and four nights with no break at all.
"The weather, and particularly the persistent rain we had for the first 24 hours, made it very very hard work but the crowd support from the local community made it so worthwhile."
Blunham CC in Bedfordshire notched up an impressive 59 hours and 33 minutes continuous play in 2008.
But as is the way of English cricket, the Australians did one better the following year, with a club in New South Wales batting through 66 hours.
Not to be outdone, Cornwall Cricket Club in Auckland, New Zealand, then upped the ante, with a fixture reaching 100 hours in January.
The World's Longest cricket match raised around £17,000. The money will go towards the completion of a new club pavilion and a number of charities, principally Breast Cancer Research, Orchid (testicular, penile and prostate cancer research) and St. Johns Hospice, Moggerhanger.
Steve Harris, vice president of the Bedfordshire club, said: "We did it, everyone is celebrating in the clubhouse now, and I think we are all just realising what an undertaking it was. We are over the moon to have got it back. The New Zealanders warned us that if we broke their record they would come back after it so we will see if we have to do it all over again."
The previous Guinness World Record for the Longest cricket match was 100 hours. Players are allowed a five minute break every hour. But apart from that the match is being played to standard ECB rules throughout.
Neil Wildon from the Blunham Cricket Club, told BBC Three Counties: "We played through five days and four nights with no break at all.
"The weather, and particularly the persistent rain we had for the first 24 hours, made it very very hard work but the crowd support from the local community made it so worthwhile."
Blunham CC in Bedfordshire notched up an impressive 59 hours and 33 minutes continuous play in 2008.
But as is the way of English cricket, the Australians did one better the following year, with a club in New South Wales batting through 66 hours.
Not to be outdone, Cornwall Cricket Club in Auckland, New Zealand, then upped the ante, with a fixture reaching 100 hours in January.
The World's Longest cricket match raised around £17,000. The money will go towards the completion of a new club pavilion and a number of charities, principally Breast Cancer Research, Orchid (testicular, penile and prostate cancer research) and St. Johns Hospice, Moggerhanger.
