CRICKETERS are set to play a special match to raise cash and awareness of a HIV prevention charity.

England may be gearing up for a Test match against New Zealand at Lords in May, but closer to home an altogether different match will take place in Rickling Green when the Captain Scott XI entertain Oslo Aliens CC.

The match is being used as a fundraiser for Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB), a UK-based cricket development and AIDS awareness charity that aims to tackle HIV and AIDS issues through cricket in Africa including countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Botswana and Uganda. It also trains people to become cricket coaches.

The two teams have different reasons for being famous: The Captain Scott XI because they have featured in three books, including the best selling Penguins Stopped Play, by team co-founder Harry Thompson, which charts the efforts of a group of club players to travel across the world to play cricket

Oslo Aliens – a Norwegian team comprising mainly of British embassy staffers, former Norway national players and a few club players – hit the headlines after they failed to win a single match in their two two-and-a-half seasons but now, just 10 years after forming, have made it into the elite Norwegian leagues.

The last time the two teams met was in 2012 when they played a mid-winter match that took place on an ice rink just outside of the Norwegian capital. It was held to mark the centenary of the ill-fated race in 1912 between Britain and Norway to reach the South Pole.

In their time, Oslo Aliens have fielded ex-Norway international players and Embassy staff while the UK side can boast that many celebrities have donned shirt, including actor Hugh Grant, comedians Nick Hancock and Rory Bremner and Ian Hislop from BBC’s Have I Got News for You? You just never know who may turn up on the day!

The match takes place at the Rickling Green cricket field on April 28 starting at 1pm. It will be a 40-overs game.