A LOCAL cricketing hero is preparing for the match of his life - an extraordinary recording-breaking charity game on Mount Everest!

James Butler, 33, of Hemnall Street, Epping, will trek for nine days to take part in the high-altitude Twenty20 match on April 21.

James, a wicket keeper and batsman who skippers Harlow Cricket Club, has been training for six months and has just completed the Bath half marathon.

He said: "I've played cricket all my life, but I don't think anything will really prepare me for this.

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

"I've been training really hard - I've lost a stone and I haven’t bee this fit since I was a teenager. Now I just want it to come so my life can return to a bit of normality."

James is the second oldest of 50 volunteers who will be accompanied by a medical team as they climb to 5,165m to unfurl an artificial pitch on the base camp at the Gorak Shep plateau in Nepal.

They will face altitude sickness and see their oxygen levels cut in half as they pad-up for an innings on one of the world's most inhospitable environments.

It would set an official Guinness world record for the highest ever altitude for a field sport, and organisers hope to raise £250,000 for Lord's Taverners, which supports disabled and disadvantaged youngsters, and the Himalayan Trust, which was created by Sir Edmund Hillary to support the Sherpas who helped him in his first ascent of Everest in 1953.

Their progress will be shown everyday on the internet and the match will be broadcast live to an audience watching at Lord's cricket ground in north London.

For more information log-on to www.theeveresttest.com.