From 38 degrees centigrade to 38 degrees Fahrenheit: from the woods of Duivelskoof in South Africa to the sea front of Brighton in England. 6000 miles and a 60-degree drop in temperature in 48 hours. All part of the rich tapestry we call county cricket.

The two-week pre-season trip of South Africa, our first trip abroad for some five years, proved to be enjoyable and successful, both on and off the pitch.

Although receiving a shock on our arrival at Jan Smuts airport in Johannesburg realising that touring cricketers brought enough kit and equiptment to keep a small army regiment going our hosts, the Limpopo Cricket Union, looked after us royally.

It is hoped that the interest created by our visit will help strengthen the promotion of cricket in the Northern Province in South Africa and judging by the 250 kids that turned up to two coaching clinics we took part in, some traveling 60 miles or more, then cricket can only flourish in these generally quite remote areas of South Africa.

Our four games of cricket played against good opposition including the Northern Titans, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo Country Districts and Northern Country Districts gave all the squad an opportunity to get in some good practice and resulted in both batters and bowlers putting in some good performances.

Anurag "Raggy" Singh scored a century in the first match and 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s for Hicky, Stephen "Pedro" Peters, Vikram, Ben "Smudge" Smith and Kadeer Ali meant everybody came home with some positive thoughts to take into the early games.

On the bowling front Chris "Lippy" Liptrot with four wickets in the first match seems to have recovered from the back injury sustained last year after a winter training in Perth and new signing Mark "Hags" Harrity showed us why he has been part of the Australia set up over recent years and has fitted in well since arriving.

The hospitality we received while on tour could not have been better and a large thank you goes to Wilko and the Limpopo Cricket Union for all their efforts in making the tour a success.

On our arrival back home we were lulled into a slight false sense of security when the temperature was a heady 15 degrees. Two days later on Brighton sea front at Hove it was a mere five degrees. It is very easy to forget how difficult is it to move about in two t-shirts, a thermal top and leggings, a fleece top, a cricket shirt, a sleeveless wool sweater and a long sleeve wool sweater when for the previous two weeks shorts and a t-shirt have been the order of the day.

You can imagine how difficult it is for most of the team who spend most of their lives dealing with weather like this, but for our flame-haired overseas fast bowler, Nantie Hayward who rarely sees temperatures less than 20 degrees centigrade I think it came as quite a shock.

Hopefully for Nantie the cold weather won't be around for much longer as the summer starts to arrive and he will feel a bit more at home. The few overs he did bowl at Sussex did show something of the pace that we all hope will bring both the Club and Nantie some real success this season.

Our last practice game tomorrow at Ombersley amongst ourselves before Fridays first championship match against Hampshire will be an opportunity for some fine tuning before the real tests start.

Let's hope the form that individuals showed, while on tour can be carried into some crucial early matches so we can get off to the best possible start and put some points on the board.

On a benefit note I would like to thank all those who attended the Chairman's Lunch and everybody that supported the cricket match against Herefordshire C.C.C. at Colwall C.C. Thank you to the Club for hosting the lunch and to Colwall C.C. for allowing me the use of their beautiful ground. Both functions were very enjoyable and everybody's support is greatly appreciated.

To see what we have coming up in the near future why not visit the benefit website at www.lugsybenefit.com ?