We did it!

Cheriton Fitzpaine Cricket Club are now the proud holders of the World Record for the Longest Continuous Cricket Match.

The old record stood at 26 hours 13 minutes, set by the Cricket Club des Ormes in France, no mean achievement. However, the record is now back where it belongs, in England, and stands at a mammoth 27 hours and 34 minutes.

The two teams, Captained by Charles and Mike, compeated fiercely throughout, with Charles' side coming out on top by 1252 runs to 1160 after 4 completed innings each.

Utterly exhausted the teams and their numerous supporters and helpers could only hope that the record would be accepted, and that they would never, ever have to go through it all again.

After a nervous wait, the Club are please to announce that the record was officially verified by the The Guinness Book of Records in September 2006.

The official certificate was handed over to Club Chairman Andy Goddard in a short but moving ceremony at the London HQ of Guinness World Records.

The event was a great success, not just in terms of the record but also in terms of the sponsorship and publicity that the Club received. We raised ca. £4,500 over the weekend towards the new pavilion, £1,000 of this coming in donations from the numerous spectators who came up to the Hayne Ground to support us.

The event was extensively covered in the local media, with interviews on both local TV and radio. The story was also run in several national newspapers, and even made it into the papers in Australia! We were also lucky enough to have Pinnacle Photography Ltd. present on the Sunday. The photographs that they took are available on-line at http://www.ppauk.com/

The Club would like to thank all those who helped us to restore the pride of a nation in regaining this record from the French. The players can feel rightly proud of themselves, but even more praiseworthy are all the Tea Ladies, Stewards, Witnesses, Umpires, Scorers and Cricket Widows without whom the players would never have been able to achieve anything.