A TOUR party of 36 players and supporters from Barnards Green Cricket Club recently returned rather reluctantly to Malvern after two weeks on the Caribbean Island of Barbados.

This was the first overseas tour for the club, arranged by club cricketer and girls' cricket coach Andrew Wheeler, and included five games against teams on the island.

With a blend of youth and some more mature players, the Green did themselves proud on and off the field. Despite failing to register a win on the field of play, they made a great impact amongst the local community. So much so, that three of the party were invited to take part in a live interview on the Caribbean Broadcasting Company (CBC) radio station to talk about Malvern, cricket at Barnards Green Cricket Club and the state of world cricket in general.

With temperatures in the late 80s, the party managed to pack in an awful lot into the space of 14 days including a day at the test match, cruising the island on a catamaran, where they went snorkleing and swimming with turtles, a trip on the Jolly Roger, a fun boat that sails the Caribbean coast, dining with Sir Cliff Richard and Cilla Black at Oistons, a fishing village that comes to life on a Friday night to the sound of Reggae and old time dancing! A Karaoke evening with Austin Heeley (England rugby star) and a celebratory evening with the Aussie test stars at a beach night club after they had beaten the West Indies in the third test.

Add to this a day touring the island, a visit to the Malibu distillery and Baracuda fishing for the more hardy amongst the party and it will be seen that for most this was a holiday of a lifetime.

As the party returned to the cold and wet of Malvern, there was already talk of another tour in a few years' time. Look out you Aussies, we may not beat you at cricket, but we have some mean Karaoke singers!