Longest cricket marathon
Who
Blunham Cricket Club
What
168:22:20 hour(s):minute(s):second(s)
Where
United Kingdom (Blunham)
When
Age Restriction: Applications for this record title will only be accepted if the applicant is 16 years of age or over.

The longest cricket marathon is 168 hr 22 min, and was achieved by Blunham Cricket Club (UK) in Blunham, Bedfordshire, UK, from 24 to 31 August 2019.


This is the third time Blunham Cricket Club have achieved the record. They previously managed 59 hours in 2008 and 105 hours in 2010. They decided to attempt the record once more following the passing of a friend who had taken part in the previous two attempts. They also used the event to raise money for two charities, as well as to build a new playing facility for the club.

Preparation for the week-long record attempt took almost a year, including arranging catering, washing, medics, independent witnesses and umpires and live entertainment.

Rest breaks were scheduled for every 6 hours, so that players could consume food and drink. Luckily this all went to plan during the attempt. Breakfast was taken at some point between 2-7 AM, consisting of cereals, eggs, bacon, (and one day) McDonalds. Lunch was usually chicken and vegetables; while dinner was usually pasta based.

Despite tough periods, the players remained motivated throughout and were helped by the watching crowds, music and on-field banter.

Over the seven days they had to endure a huge range of temperatures, but kept playing throughout. One day changed from 25°C weather with some cloud cover to torrential rain in a matter of minutes, causing huge puddles on the field. The ground staff worked tirelessly and against the odds to ensure the pitch remained playable throughout. One member was even brought to tears once the rain had subsided.

Despite the rain, the toughest weather to endure was actually the 30°C weekend leading up to the storm. Keeping players hydrated and avoiding sunburn by ensuring everybody had hats and were changing fielding positions to suit the shade was hard work. Blunham was reportedly the hottest place in the UK that day… exactly where they were playing!

One wicket was kept free all season and prepared weekly to ensure it was the best it could be. On opening day, Blunham Playing Fields “looked like Lords.” The attempt used a total of 70 balls donated to the club, 10 for each day. This was plenty for the day but at night they had to be careful as the morning dew made it really hard to maintain the balls.

The participants were as follows:

Team Fire

  • George Hutson
  • Chris Bruce
  • Ross Adams
  • Dom Higgins
  • James Sheath
  • Wayne Goldsmith
  • Conor Hurman
  • Chris Boulding
  • Daniel Coverdale
  • Michael Winfield
  • William Brown
  • Ben Jiggins


Team Phoenix

  • Max Hurst
  • Connor Heaps
  • Neil Wildon
  • Peppe Petrucci
  • Giv Petrucci
  • Oliver Grist
  • Alex Wallman
  • Daniel Johnson
  • Robbie Richmond
  • Deryn Fowler
  • David Garofalo
  • Joe McGilley

Unfortunately the storm ruined a lot of scorers sheets; however the highest scored innings was a 253* from Michael Winfield, while the most wickets taken was Deryn Fowler with 78 wickets in 7 days.

20 of the participants took 4 days annual leave from work and used the bank holiday as an extra day off. The other 4 were university students.

According to organiser George Hutson, it was 5-7 days before he started sleeping properly again and his body no longer ached. George bowled somewhere between 30-50 overs a day which took a toll on his back and shoulders – on top of being on his feet for most of the day too.

Achieving their third Guinness World Records is “the icing on the cake for what was an amazing week that left us all emotional but stronger as a club.” The attempt raised over £35K and is a huge sense of pride for George.