Charity cricketers tackle Everest

Former England batsman Mark Butcher helped to test the artificial pitch

A group of cricketers is heading to Mount Everest to play a record-breaking high altitude Twenty20 match.

The team used Trafalgar Square to show off the artificial pitch the cricketers will unfurl once they reach base camp at the Gorak Shep plateau in Nepal.

What would be the highest cricket game on record is scheduled for 21 April after the players have trekked for nine days to an altitude of 5,000m.

They hope to raise �250,000 for Lord's Taverners and the Himalayan Trust UK.

'Pretty bonkers'

The match will be broadcast live to an audience watching at Lord's cricket ground in north London.

Former England batsmen Mark Butcher and Chris Adams turned out to support the mountain-bound cricketers.

It's quite dangerous, the altitude sickness will affect a lot of people

Team captain Haydn Main

Butcher, the Surrey captain, said: "It's pretty bonkers, but anything that's out there raising money for good causes is terrific."

Team captain Haydn Main, a lawyer from London, said the group was prepared for a tough climb.

"It's a seriously intense challenge. It's quite dangerous, the altitude sickness will affect a lot of people."

The group will be accompanied by a medical team.

The Lord's Taverners is a charity that helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or with physical disabilities, to become involved in cricket or other physical activities.

The Himalayan Trust UK is the charity created by Sir Edmund Hillary to support the Sherpas who helped him in his first ascent of Everest in 1953.