Cricket at the North Pole

Two British explorers, about to undertake an expedition to plot the exact location of the Magnetic North Pole, are planning to play the world's most northerly game of cricket if they do find it.

London banker Matthew Hancock, 26, and 28-year-old Kilkenny-based engineer Matt Coates will trek over parts of the Arctic Ocean never before covered by man while gathering vital scientific data into the damaging effects of climate change on one of the world's most remote areas.

They will face extreme dangers throughout the expedition, not least the threat of the Arctic's 20,000 polar bears as well as the obvious hazards posed by the elements ... hypothermia, frostbite, gangrene and hypoglycaemia, as well as the further risk of injury caused by falling through thin ice.

The Climate Change Magnetic Pole Expedition 2005, sponsored by the European Climate Exchange, the Chicago Climate Exchange and Brit Insurance Holdings, will involve the two explorere trekking more than 500 miles in around six weeks, dragging sledges weighing more than 120 kilos.

Brit Insurance, which also sponsor Surrey CCC and The Brit Oval, have challenged Hancock and Coates to celebrate their arrival at the Magnetic North Pole by attempting the most northerly game of cricket ever played.