Long Description:The Blunham website describes this special event:
("http://www.blunhamcc.20m.com/record/why.html"
target="_blank">visit link)
'Blunham Cricket Club, has set an official Guinness new World
Record, for the longest continuous game of Cricket. The UK record
had been held by Chestfield CC of Kent, of 35 hours, set on 8th and
9th of September 2007. The longest recorded game worldwide, had
been 55 hours set by Cornwall CC in Auckland, New Zealand on the
18th to 20th April, 2008.
Prior to that, an Australian attempt at Sel Outridge Park
Sportsfield, Redland, Queensland, Australia, by Citipointe Church
on 20-22 March 2008 was ratified by the Guinness Book of Records as
the then OFFICIAL World Record. Their marathon lasted 50 hours 18
minutes.
To save any argument Blunham aimed to play for 59 hours from 9am
Friday 19th September to 8pm Sunday 21st September and beat both
records. In fact the game went on for a further 33 minutes and 56
seconds. The game was be played using conventional cricket rules
with only a 5 minutes break for every hour played. Therefore, the
teams were able to have half a hour break every 6 hours.
Bowling over 1,000 overs and scoring over 3,000 runs was a
mammoth task, and although prepared to play through all that the
weather might throw at us, the heavens were benign and we
experienced some of the most glorious weather of the entire summer.
Whilst each side could have a 12th man substitute, none of the
players were allowed to leave the immediate vicinity of the playing
area throughout, except through a bad injury, otherwise the attempt
would have become void.
In order to get the record ratified by The Guinness Book of
Records, there were numerous regulations imposed upon us to have
various witnesses and volunteers in place on 4 hour shifts. As it
turned out, the official recording equipment, required to record
every second of the game, failed to work properly, so it was the
huge weight of alternative evidence, such as massive TV and radio
coverage, the many thousands of photos and the hugely diverse list
of official witness statements that persuaded the Guinness World
Record people to accept our match as valid and to grant Blunham the
status as official world record holders, which they did formally on
Friday 5th December 2008.'
Wikipedia has some further details:
("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_longest_cricket_marathon"
target="_blank">visit link)
'World's longest cricket marathon
The World's Longest Cricket Marathon is a world record currently
officially held by Blunham Cricket Club in Blunham, Bedfordshire,
England, with a time of 59 hours and 33 minutes.
Blunham's record (set on 19-21 September 2008) was confirmed and
ratified by Guinness on the 3rd of December 2008. Unfortunately,
Guinness have an issue with their website at the moment and are
unable to update their database online so it does not show the
current official record of 59 hours and 33 minutes. The
documentation can be seen online at the BCC website. The previous
record holders were Cornwall CC of Auckland, New Zealand at 55
hours.
The most recent attempt was held by the Raymond Terrace District
Cricket Club in New South Wales, Australia. The attempt was held
between 24 and 27 January 2009 with a new time of 63 hours and 1
minute. The attempt has yet to be confirmed by Guinness World
Records.
Previous Holders
* Cornwall CC of Auckland, New Zealand at 55 hours
* Chestfield Cricket Club, Chestfield, Kent, England 35 hours
* Red Row Cricket Club, Northumberland, England 34 hours set on
26/27 May 2007
* Cheriton Fitzpaine Cricket Club, Devon, England, 27 hours 34
minutes set on 24/25 June 2006 and ratified on 19 Sept 2006
* The record was originally set by Cricket Club des Ormes in France
in 2003, at 26 hours and 13 minutes.
Rules
The record is the amount of cumulative playing time, after breaks
are discounted, of a continuous game of cricket.
* Breaks are limited to 5 minutes per 1 hour of playing time
* There are two teams and these teams are limited to 12-a-side (11
on the field plus one "sub")
* No player is permitted to leave the ground unless they are
incapacitated
* A break is not permitted between innings.'