Nottinghamshire’s second match on their 2012 Barbados tour took place at Pickwick Cricket Club.

As was the case for the opening fixture of the tour, a 40-minute bus journey was undertaken to get us to the east side of the island to play our 40-over match against Yorkshire.

Pickwick are one of the most famous club sides in Barbados and one of the oldest. They were founded in 1882 and until 2005 their home was the world-renowned Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

Major ground developments, ahead of 2007 ICC World Cup, meant that Pickwick became temporarily homeless. Eventually a plot of land was donated by the owner of the Four Square rum distillery and a re-location took place.

Whilst the present facilities are not quite as exclusive as the Test arena, they are perfectly adequate and is their own ground. The future for the club is blooming.

One end of the ground adjoins a field full of sugar cane and is named the Vasbert Drakes End – or as the broken sign unfortunately says, the ASBERT DRAKES END!

Aircraft could be seen taking off from the main Grantley Adams International airport in the distance.

Apart from Drakes, the former Nottinghamshire player, Pickwick has produced a number of West Indian Test cricketers over the years, such as Percy Tarilton, Teddy Hoad, John Goddard, Geoff Greenidge (no relation to Gordon), plus, from more recent times, Adrian Griffith, Ryan Hinds and Tino Best.

As you’d expect, the welcome given to both Notts and Yorkshire was warm and friendly – the hospitality superb.

If the outfield was a little long and a little bumpy, so what – the green and golds had a thoroughly enjoyable day there, bringing up their first victory in Barbados and their first success in 2012.