A Pimlico health worker likes cricket so much he played in a world record game lasting more than two days - and that's non-stop!

It only needs the boffins from the Guinness Book of World Records to confirm that Graham Crabb and the rest of his pals at Blunham Cricket Club have a genuine claim to fame, and they will all be included in the tome for things superlative.

Crabb, 32, who works as an occupational health practice nurse at Townsend House, Greycoat Place, was part of the two Blunham teams that set a record of 59 hours continuous playing last Sunday.

The two teams started at 9am on Friday, and 14-odd innings later, plus a little over 4,300 runs scored, they pulled up stumps at 8pm on Sunday evening.

The irony is that Crabb's job concerns testing of the effects of work on health.

With eyes just about still open he said: "I'm still only just about finding words to describe it - little old me in the team that broke the world record. From a personal point of view, I'm absolutely ecstatic.

He added: "It was tough though. I went to bed for 14 hours after, and I'm still feeling sore now."

The 24 cricketers smashing the previous UK record of 35 hours set by the Chestfield Cricket Club in Kent, and the previous world record of 55 hours set by the Cornwall Cricket Club in Auckland, New Zealand.

Friends, family and local residents kept the players' spirits up with relentless support and a barbecue even through the night when temporary floodlights helped the weary keep going.

Several bands also played, and former England cricket captain Mike Gatting paid a visit before the last ball was bowled and the overs were finally over.

Crabb said: "There were 1,000 people there when we finished, it was incredibly exciting."

The cricketers' feats raised have raised £15,000 so far for the refurbishment of the club pavilion at Blunham, near Bedford in Bedfordshire.