A British graduate student has reportedly set a new benchmark in the Guinness World Records with his marathon batting session for a continuous 26 hours in the indoor nets at The Oval.
Oxfordshire resident Alby Shale started batting at 6:45am on July 15, and finally declared his innings at 8:45am the following day, beating the previous record of 25 hours set in October 2012 by an Australian.
According to Sport24, the attempt was in aid of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, which is a charity set up to create an international-standard cricket ground in the east African country, where the game of cricket is emerging, with Shale's attempt raising 12,000 pounds towards a total of 600,000 pounds.
A Guinness World Records spokesman said that Shale faced a total of 6,062 deliveries from around 200 bowlers, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, England all-rounder Ravi Bopara and former Australia batsman Tom Moody.
The report said that the rules set by Guinness World Records allowed only a five-minute break for every full hour completed - to refuel and go to the toilet, adding that Shale was clean bowled after more than 15 hours despite the onslaught of deliveries.
The idea was the brainchild of Shale's father Christopher, Cameron's close friend and his Conservative Party constituency chairman, who died of a heart attack in 2011.
