HITTING THE HEIGHTS

It’s a familiar enough lament. Somewhere between the third and fourth pint, and somewhere between one birthday and another, there’s a moment of clarity, a hammer blow that falls heavy despite its innate daftness. That glittering sporting career, those 100 Test caps, 10,000 runs or 400 wickets … they’re probably not going to happen. David Harper was having just such a existential crisis when he bemoaned to his wife that he’d never play cricket at “the highest level”. “Well,” came the reply. “We might be able to do something about that.”

For most, the pub lament is a howl in the dark that could have been issued at any time after the age of 18. OK, OK, any time after the age of 11. OK, OK, just plainly any time. For Harper, though, it set in motion a train of events that reaches its destination over the next fortnight. And he, along with 30-odd others, will indeed be playing cricket at the highest level. Quite literally. An intrepid crew of fundraisers are heading up Kilimanjaro – not a bit of the way up, not halfway up, but all the way up – to take part in the highest game of cricket ever played.

And this isn’t some scratchy backyard biff – this is a proper game of T20. Makhaya Ntini is taking part, as are Ashley Giles, Heather Knight and Clare Connor, and four qualified ECB umpires are heading up to 5,785m to ensure the game meets the requirements of the Guinness Book of Records. A Flicx pitch is currently on its way up the mountain, to be followed on Wednesday by the participants. Pads, gloves and helmets are also being dragged up to the summit, which is just as well with Ntini steaming in at altitude. Thin air has to be the fast bowler’s friend.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” says Dr Nishant Joshi, the team doctor on the trip and editor of Alternative Cricket. “So I’m counting on people being a little bit wary of the altitude. I’m pretty sure people won’t be bowling at full speed. I’m expecting even Makhaya to come down to spin bowling by the end of his six-ball spell.”

The field of play, such as it is, is a crater around 100m from the highest point of the mountain. The famous Lord’s slope – eight feet or so running from the north-west corner of the ground down to the Tavern Stand – pales in comparison. And Kilimanjaro tends to go in for uncovered pitches. It sounds like a bowler’s paradise. If they can avoid altitude sickness.

“Medically, we’ve got to worry about the typical things that anyone is going to have on such a long hike, which is blisters and that sort of thing, stomach upsets and the like,” says Joshi. “But the problem with altitude is that, though the oxygen percentage stays the same, the air becomes thinner so you do have less oxygen to breathe in.

“Altitude sickness is something that can affect a lot of people and that’s independent of fitness level, so that’s the sort of thing that can really strike at random and lead to breathing difficulties, nausea, extreme fatigue and lots of other complications, so that’s something we’re going to have to keep a very, very close eye on. People are going to be so tired so quickly, I reckon people might be charging in for their first couple of balls then be out of breath for the third. It’s going to be one-over spells for everybody.”

The project is raising money for three charities – Cancer Research UK, Tusk, an anti-poaching charity, and the Rwandan Cricket Stadium Foundation – and you can make a contribution to the fundraising target of £200,000 here. And with the involvement of the estimable Aliya Bauer, she of the Maasai Warriors project (“cricket’s Mother Teresa,” in Joshi’s words), two underprivileged boys from the Alexandra township – one of the poorest and most densely populated areas in South Africa – will also be making the trip.

If all goes to plan it should be a moment of history – the highest ever game of competitive sport. And a chance for the players to get some cracking new material for those pub conversations. “I don’t think I’d fancy opening the batting against Makhaya Ntini at altitude,” says Joshi. “But I wouldn’t mind facing Ashley Giles. I think my aim would be to hit him off the mountain. That’s a story I could tell my grandchildren.”

• This is an extract from The Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. Sign up here.