Captain Robert Scott V's Rauld Amundsen – the rematch

On the 17th January 1912, Captain Scott and his team reached the South Pole only to find that they had been beaten by Raul Amundsen who had arrived 5 weeks earlier. In order to commemorate the 100th anniversary, the Captain Scott Invitation XI took on an Amundsen XI in a 20 over cricket match just outside Oslo, Norway.

The Scotties have been made famous, or infamous depending on which way you look at them, in Harry Thompson's marvellous book 'Penguins stopped play'. Regular players were joined on the trip by CWB volunteers Stephen Green, Jamie Burton, Mike and Veronika Reeves and Paul Daniels (who has his foot firmly in both camps).

The warm-up for the match included a dog sledding challenge, skiing and sledging. Some members of The Team took these very seriously and regardless of their own safety caused pile-ups, lost their sledge and sometimes even the dogs. 'Someone attached tree magnets to my sledge,' said Scotties' captain Sean Reilly.

The trip was a part of fund raising effort with proceeds going to CWB and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. The explanatory email was sent to everyone's contact and then the money started rolling in.

On Tuesday 17th January 2012 at 5pm Oslo time the excited Scotties arrived at an arranged destination – an Astroturf pitch covered with snow and ice. Determined to play in whites the intrepid explorers put on as many layers as possible resulting in following exchange:

Amundsen's scorer: 'Bowler's name please?'

Scotties' supporter: 'I don't know. They all look fat!'

The Amundsen XI fought bravely against the focused Scotties and reached 156 runs all out. Now it was the Scotties' turn to bat for Britain.

It was an innings of extremes – while the first pair's partnership was 0, Mike Stepney failing to hit his second ball out of the ground, the second one reached 109 runs. Scotties' ringer Jamie Burton (a Scot!) showed off his skill in spite of having been caught up in a nasty sledging accident the day before, where he ended up wrapped around a tree. Paul Daniels grew in confidence watching Jamie take the bowling apart and scored 43.

The fielding was a challenging task, turning the players into cartoon characters running on the spot. The audience appreciated this with roaring laughter rather than the sympathy that the players needed. The bowlers avoided run-ups to save their lives and the batsmen met their nemesis in the constantly moving, curling and sliding carpet that was the wicket.

Despite, or maybe because of, the slippery surface, temperatures down to minus 7 degrees, multiple layers of clothing, visible breath and pressure to deliver, the boys did their job with enthusiasm and determination aided by swigs of sloe gin, whiskey and Baileys.

Scotties ended up on 159 for 3 off 14 overs. The score has been settled.