Q: How do you end up ranked 10th in the world in an international competition when you've only scored two points?

A: Ask the dedicated hacks at the Crawley News, who somehow found themselves holding a prestigious title after giving up their Good Friday to take part in the town’s 74th annual marble competition.

The Crawley News Crushers, aka Dan Selinger, Maheesha Kottegoda, Michael Connellan, Warren Fiveash and Adrian Pearson managed to make it through the first round with only nine other of the 22 teams - who travelled from all over the world to take part (how bad must they have been?).

They scored just two points. Unsurprisingly, marble glory eluded them and they were knocked out in tenth place at the second stage, thus gaining their world ranking status.

The Crushers didn't approach the competition lightly.

Two days before, they got some vital training from nine-year-old marble champ Zac McCarthy - although by the time he left the office he looked less that hopeful.

"I can't work miracles" he was heard to mutter as he left the team "expertly" flicking marbles across the newsroom, narrowly missing computers, eyeballs and windows.

Crushers official spokeswoman Maheesha Kottegoda (pictured with the team) is hopeful the result next year will be better.

She said: "It was never the best venue for us. I mean, put a load of journos in a pub and the last thing on their mind is marbles.

"That said, it was the international world marble championship and we were knocked out in tenth place - therefore we must be ranked 10th in the world. A good result. A historic result."

Content editor Harriet Shelley added: "I was just a little suspicious when Dan Selinger turned up for work on Tuesday morning and told me the first thing he had to do was collect his notebook from the pub..."

Tough competition