A WEST Indian bowler was "frogmarched" out of the country after immigration officials refused to believe he had come to Worcestershire to play cricket.

Nash Jones had been lined up as Barnards Green Cricket Club's overseas player for the season but those plans lie in tatters because of Home Office red tape.

Less than a week after arriving, Mr Jones was sent back to Grenada from Gatwick yesterday because he failed to mention when he entered the UK that he would be playing cricket during his six-month holiday.

The Immigration Service told the club they feared Mr Jones had come for free medical treatment or to stay in the country indefinitely.

"The guy was here on holiday, was staying with us, and was going to have a few games of cricket, unpaid, and coach the kids," said club captain Chris Smedley, who struck up a friendship with the player while in the West Indies getting married.

"He would have brought colour, diversity and greater understanding of a different culture to our club and to Malvern, yet we've been denied all that."

Keith Middleton, the club's chairman, said it was "a crazy decision".

"His primary reason for coming was to stay with the family he met in Grenada," he said.

"If he'd said he was here to play cricket he would have got through. It seems ridiculous."

Mr Smedley and his wife Donna met Mr Jones, who was serving cocktails at their Caribbean hotel, and soon struck up a rapport thanks to their mutual love of cricket.

The couple accompanied the Grenadian to Gatwick yesterday to try to demand a last-minute reprieve.

"His dreams were shattered," said Mrs Smedley.

"He didn't need a work permit, he had sufficient funds, a return ticket and a letter of invitation from us.

"We fought to the bitter end but in the end he was frogmarched out of the country like a criminal."

The case has been taken up by West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer and Mr Jones has been told he "can apply"

to return.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said she could not comment on individual cases but anybody entering the country had to state the exact reason.

"The removal of those who have no legal right to be in the UK is an essential part of having an effective and credible immigration system in which the public can have confidence," she said.