Suffolk cricket coach Andy Northcote, of Needham Market, attempting Guinness World Record as part of 481 Challenge

A Suffolk cricket coach is physically and mentally gearing up to undertake a Guinness World Record for charity.

Andy Northcote, of Needham Market, is aiming to bat continuously for 52 hours at Woolpit Cricket Club as the fourth and final part of his 481 Challenge.

This involves four challenges across eight months by one person as Andy, who is the county’s cricket performance lead and men’s 1st XI head coach, aims to raise £5,000 for Suffolk MIND.

The 40-year-old originally set himself the challenge to bat in a net continuously for 24 hours, but is now attempting to beat the Guinness World Record of 50 hours, 4 minutes and 17 seconds held by a man from Nagpur in India.

Andy said: “I’m exceptionally excited but equally unsure of the unknown, as there’s lots of articles that say you can start to hallucinate after a while so it’s going to be really interesting to see how my body holds up.

“But it is going to be a monumental challenge and I suppose what excites me about this challenge is that there's absolutely no guarantee I'm going to finish it and I have no idea what to expect as to how I will react physically.

“Mentally it will be numbing as well so it will just be an extremely tough physical and mental challenge.”

The last leg of Andy’s challenge is on Tuesday, August 22 at 10am and he will finish two days and four hours later, if he can go the distance.

“I can get grumpy after 12 hours, so who knows what will happen after 24 hours, physically I’m not sure how I will feel after 30 to be honest,” he said.

“Netting in cricket is enjoyable, but only for about 30 or 40 minutes then it starts getting a bit tedious so we will have to see.”

“I have been working incredibly hard on quads, core and lower back and just getting good movements around the hips which is going to be key in this challenge so I am already exceptionally fitter as it is.

Andy, who is head coach at Woolpit Cricket Club and runs his own coaching business, is two months into his heavy training and his next steps involve contacting health professionals and sports psychologists.

He took part in the Cambridge Half Marathon in March, achieving his sub two-hour target by 13 minutes, with another part of the 481 Challenge involving running a mile a day for 100 days.

Andy was also on schedule to reach his four hours and 15 minutes target alongside 58,000 other runners who took part in the Paris Marathon in April.

However, at the 37km mark he was hindered by a knee injury, although he still completed the course, walking the last 5km.

With the help of Annie Nunn at Ensofit, which is the gym Andy has trained at regularly near Stowmarket, and the support of Suffolk Mind, the cricket coach is thankful to everyone getting behind him so far.

He said: “I have lots of people to thank but two in particular include my brother, Nicholas, for coming over from Belgium to support me here who also was part of my support crew in Paris.

“Also my dad, George, who did a 160 mile endurance race when he was a little over 23 years old, will be coming from Cape Town (which is where Andy lived until 2009).

“I am totally blessed to have family like them who are so kind and caring, as well as friends who have been so supportive of my crazy idea and also helped research towards making it a success.”

On the day of the Guinness World Record attempt in August, there will be an activity zone and master class sessions for children and teenagers where they can also get the chance to bowl to Andy.

Originally, Andy’s target was to raise £2,000 for completing the 481 Challenge but having already reached £1,850, he changed it to £5,000.

He said: “I am so incredibly grateful, which is the bottom line here, and if we can get close to the £5,000 target then I will be absolutely blown away.”