Portsmouth cricket team to play for 16 hours from sunrise to sunset to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK and Shelter

From sunrise to sunset on June 21, a team of cricket players will test their endurance while taking on a mammoth match for Prostate Cancer UK and homelessness charity Shelter.

The two opposing sides will be made up of players from Portsmouth Academics, a social team made up of staff and ex-students from the University of Portsmouth.

This charitable effort will see the group batting and bowling from roughly 4.50am to 9.10pm, with three food breaks throughout the day to break up play.

Club secretary Jason Manning, from Fareham, said: ‘The funny thing with cricket is there’s a lot of rest time but the challenge on a day like this is you don’t want to stop.

‘You want to keep the adrenaline going and the muscles warm. There’s going to be a few sore bodies at the end.

‘One of the joys last year was cricket was one of the sports that was able to start again. We had a couple of months during the summer when we were able to enjoy it fully again.’

Paul McVeigh, who will captain one of the teams, chose Shelter as one of the charities to be supported, while other captain Jason chose Prostate Cancer UK.

Jason said: ‘There are so many good charities and worthwhile causes. It’s something that my grandpa has just been given the all clear from so that was fresh in my mind.

‘I think as it’s 22 guys doing the challenge, we wanted to raise awareness of the cause and to get over the stigma of going to get checked.’

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More than £1,100 has already been collected to be split between the two good causes, and the teams are hoping more will come in during the challenge.

Westbourne Cricket Club has kindly offered to host the charity event for free, which was a boost to the players.

The team is hoping some local businesses might get involved with donating food for the meal breaks to boost the players throughout the day.

Anyone interested can contact Jason on [email protected] or 07902 711254.

Visit justgiving.com/team/SunrisetoSunset to donate.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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