By the time he played the final ball of his session, bowled by his wife in front of a large crowd in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, Eric Dusingizimana had batted for 51 successive hours, setting a new Guinness world record for the longest individual net session. Despite having batted for more than two days, he still had energy to pull off an unusual celebration: a headstand.
Dusingizimana, the Rwanda cricket team captain, beat the record set by India's Virag Mare last year, and did it with the aim of raising money for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, which was set up to help fund the country's first international cricket ground.
He began batting on May 11 and was allowed a five-minute break in every hour of his batting session, giving the player time to undergo health checks and eat. By the time he completed his session on Friday, Dusingizimana had faced throwdowns from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the British High Commissioner to Rwanda William Gelling and Miss Rwanda.
"I am so happy to have helped raise awareness for cricket in Rwanda and the work of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation," Dusingizimana said.
"We need to build the future of cricket in Rwanda, which is why the stadium is important. But we want also want to use the new facilities to help the sport unite our country and raise awareness about the importance of health and education."
The record for the longest innings in cricket is 16 hours and 10 minutes, set by Pakistan batsman Hanif Mohammad, who scored 337 in a Test against West Indies in 1958. The Independent newspaper reported that Dusingizimana had batted approximately five-and-a-half hours longer than the entire Australian cricket team in the 2015 Ashes.