A PLASTIC cricket pitch made by an Oxfordshire company is on its way to Mount Everest to play the sport's highest-ever match.

A 50-strong expedition is on its way to Gorak Shep, a plateau 5,165 metres (17,000 feet) above sea level, close to Everest Base Camp, for the record-breaking charity game.

The pitch, made by Oxfordshire company Flicx, is being carried by sherpas, along with the bats, pads and wickets. Flicx was founded by cricket-mad Richard Beghin in South Africa, who wanted a cheap way of encouraging inter-racial cricket as apartheid crumbled.

He came to Britain in 1999 after landing an order for 799 pitches from the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Now Flicx, based at Hinton Airfield near Banbury, has a £1m annual turnover and employs five people, all of whom live and breathe sport. The team includes Keith Cartwright, captain of the cricket team at nearby Brackley in Northamptonshire, and Tilly Holder, who ranks in the top ten women amateur golfers in Britain.

Mr Beghin said: "When I first developed the Flicx pitch back in 1998, it was for the development of young South African cricketers who had been brought up in the under-privileged townships of South Africa.

"These youngsters desperately wanted to play cricket and it provided them with a fantastic opportunity to develop their game of cricket. Now to realise that it will be taken to new heights and played at this high altitude in such a special match, is beyond my wildest dreams."

The pitches, made in South Africa from recycled plastic, are making their way into more and more export markets with the help of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in the South East.

The Everest base camp team of 22 amateur players, eight reserves, medics, groundsmen, and even a few spectators, are in the middle of a ten-day trek to the venue for the game, scheduled for next Wednesday, the Queen's birthday.

Everest expedition leader Richard Kirtley told news agency AFP: "We are acclimatising on the foothills of Everest. All the players are looking forward to the match."

The two teams are named Hillary and Tenzing after the first men to climb Everest.

They hope to raise £250,000 for The Lord's Taverners and The Himalayan Trust UK charities.