A HAMPSHIRE doctor will trade his stethoscope for a cricket bat when he scales Mount Kilimanjaro to play the world’s highest match at 19,000ft.

Simon Rogers, 39, from Winchester, is part of a group climbing the Tanzanian mountain to raise £200,000 for Cancer Research UK, Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation and Africa development charity Tusk.

On September 20 two teams will climb almost 20,000ft over seven gruelling days, battling freezing temperatures and extreme altitude sickness, before playing a full T20 match in a crater at the summit.

Only two thirds of the mountain’s 25,000 annual climbers reach the crater, and none have topped the feat with a game of cricket.

“I think it’ll be like playing cricket on the moon,” Simon said. “It’s going to be dusty, and there will be rocks and all sorts of stuff flying around. At that altitude the speed of the game will be significantly reduced.”

Dr Rogers, an eye specialist at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, will be joined by cricket legends including Ashley Giles, who won the Ashes with England in 2005, and former England captain and now head of English women’s cricket, Clare Connor.

“I’m nervous,” he added. “But rubbing shoulders with the cricket experts and the opportunity to do it in such an unusual location is exciting.”

The team have raised £41,000 so far.

More information at mtkilimadness.com or follow twitter.com/kilimadness.