But the two sides won’t be playing against each other.

Raymond Terrace is looking to break a Guinness World Record for the longest cricket marathon, which is held by the Auckland-based club.

Raymond Terrace District Cricket Club event organiser Martin Soper said the idea came from a brainstorming session by board members, who were looking to raise the profile of the club.

“We do something a little bit different each year,” Soper said.

“We were looking for an event that would raise money and also get our club’s face out there.”

Whilst Cornwell Cricket Club’s innings ran for 55 hours in a charity event it called the Drive for 55, Raymond Terrace hopes to be on the field playing for 60 accumulative hours.

“We’ll be at the ground for 72 hours altogether but when you factor in breaks and things like that we will only be batting and bowling for 60 hours,” Soper said.

He said the breaking of the record would no doubt be a gruelling event, with each side only allowed one substitution.

“Each side is only allowed 12 players and the rules stipulate that the 24 players who start the game have to finish it,” Soper said.

“There will definitely be some tired cricketers by the end of it.”

The board members saw the Australia Day long weekend as the perfect time to run the event, which will begin on Sunday, January 25 and run until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“Port Stephens has a large Australia Day celebration so not only is it good because it ensures us a public holiday to run it on, but also it will coincide with the celebrations,” Soper said.

“It will be a great Australia Day if we can pinch a world record off the Kiwis.”

But Soper admits it won’t be easy and with endorsement from the Guinness World Records comes strict guidelines that the club must adhere to.

“We need to have independent witnesses and log books of every ball bowled; there is a lot of criteria that we must meet,” he said.

“We also have to rotate the umpires and have a big enough support staff to control the event.”

The Raymond Terrace District Cricket Club is looking for any sponsors or contributors to lend support to the event.

It will be used to raise money for the club’s junior cricket development program and help purchase much-needed training equipment.