Barbados Loves Cricket Lovers

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Duncan Fletcher enjoying the Barbados beaches.

By Tristan Holme

'A proud past, a world-class future' is the slogan on show around Barbados. The phrase seems optimistic to say the least.

The beauty of the beaches is undoubted, but the rest of the island looks like a part of Africa that time forgot. While the buildings are not quite as desperate as the shanty towns of many African cities, most are run-down and even the big double-storey buildings look unfinished.

The shiniest items on display are the 'Barbados loves cricket lovers' signs along the highways that must have been erected in the past month.

With the warm-up games under way around the Caribbean one would expect the tension around the island to be reaching fever pitch, but alas all is calm in Barbados. Even my taxi driver John is less than committal on the topic of cricket.

But there's no doubt that the game is loved here. Driving around the 'suburbs' we pass two cricket ovals in five minutes, each with children playing on their outskirts.

And entering a shopping centre in search of an adaptor I meet the best-named shop I have ever come across - the 'Line and Length Barber Shop'.

I had landed midway through the afternoon feeling dishevelled and unsightly to be met by a wave of heat that had fellow passengers ooohing and aaahing. The air is so dense you can practically chew on it.

But while the buildings around the island are less than glamorous - leading to my suspicion of the aforementioned slogan - the mindset of the people could hardly be better.

Everyone is genuine, helpful and extraordinarily laid-back. The mentality seems such that material possessions are not required to achieve the 'world class' status they are supposedly chasing.

Meanwhile, the accent is so thick it might as well be another language.

A white man with dreadlocks in Africa draws attention, but here I have yet to be greeted with shouts of 'eeeh rastaman!'. It really is quite a relief.

Could a place be more relaxed?