As I put my backpack behind the security guards desk at the entrance to the ground I walked once more past the myriad barbeques and stalls that abound in the Antigua Recreation Ground. Stopping off for one last rum punch at Camile's stall and exhorting her to fly over to Barbados to make us some more when were there, I climbed one last time up the rickety stairs to the top tier of the Oil Stand.

This had been an emotional week and it was just about to get worse. I don't usually carry a backpack into a cricket match but my flight was leaving Antigua at 6pm and that, because of the rain delay in the morning, was when the third Test of the series was due to finish. And England, as ever, were never going to help me out by winning early and allowing me to see a
victory.

Indeed I didn't miss a victory either, as I found out when the pilot announced half way through our flight that it had been a draw.

But while there is not much glory in being an England fan, following them is certainly memorable. What happened in Antigua this week was remarkable, and there was a certain irony in the fact that give them a couple of years to put on a Test match they couldn't manage it, but given two days they somehow pulled it off.

There were huge political implications of the aborted game here as conspiracy theories abounded that it had all been a plan to dethrone the ruling party in the forthcoming elections. And if the locals are passionate about politics they are also passionate about who they think should be in the West Indies team. The best comment we heard amongst their frequent arguments was that Shiv Chanderpaul was the worst batsman in world cricket.

There are some opinions that are valid, some misguided, some just nonsense. I'll leave you to work out which one that was. So onto Barbados and hopefully a nice simple Test match... and an England win.

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down... It seems like a fairly strange song to celebrate victory with, but the Jamaicans gave it a fair few renditions as they celebrated victory against an England team that managed to plumb new depths. For those who have been watching England for years that takes a special kind of effort as there have been some real depths.

We met the Jamaican grins with ironic grins of our own and shared handshakes with them as we left the ground. Their particular handshake consists of a handshake and then a flicking of the thumbs against each other and we've all got the hang of it now. We struggle to understand exactly what they are saying sometimes as the patois leaves us baffled, but there has been a genuine bonding between us and the locals.

Throughout a sporting performance that was so bad it was almost funny there was one particular moment of hilarity. As England were about eight wickets down with over 40 overs to play the stadium announcer made a big song and dance of telling everyone that the ticket office was selling tickets for the next day's play. Everyone in the stadium laughed at that one as the chances of it ever getting that far was slim to none.

With back-to-back Tests now the norm, you never get much time to explore the great places you visit to watch Test cricket. So when a Test finishes a day early the bonus is that you get some free time, but sadly Jamaica is closed on a Sunday so there's little to do but dissect another terrible England performance. And try desperately to get excited about the next one. That's not as difficult as it could be because Antigua is not exactly the worst next port-of-call.

	The Barmy Army celebrated Bob Marley's birthday in Jamaica © AFP

Sometimes I just don't realise how lucky I am. I get so used to watching cricket overseas that it takes a minute of stepping back to realise what I'm up to. A Test match, in Sabina Park, in Jamaica and it's Bob Marley's birthday. The likes of Sir Viv Richards and Michael Holding appear around corners. We go to a bar owned by Courtney Walsh who is always checking up on us to see we're happy.

Sadly we don't see as much of Kingston as we usually do of a Test venue thanks to the universal advice not to walk about too much. Indeed a couple of Barmy Army boys were picked up by someone in a car the other day having basically been told that they should under no circumstances be walking around that particular area on their own.

The cricket itself has been fairly uninspiring and the crowd disappointing. Not only that, but you can't walk all the way around the ground so people are stuck in whatever stand they happen to be in without the option of meeting up which means it looks even emptier.

But the sun is shining, cricket legends appear everywhere and we're watching Test cricket, in Sabina Park, in Jamaica. And we're drinking rather a lot of rum and Red Stripe. Happy birthday Bob. Cheers to you.

The great thing about watching Test cricket is that while you may be watching the same game it is a dramatically different experience in every country. The bizarre thing here in the West Indies is that, in much the same way as India, you're in a place where the people are cricket mad and you talk to everyone about it and yet the grounds are half empty.

The big difference between here and India is that the Jamaicans are geared up to party. They have specific stands just for partying – although it's not as if the rest of the stadium is like a library. And they sell quarter bottles of rum. Hardly a responsible drinking policy. But there was no partying as the series kicked off; a just a fairly quiet stadium where everything on the pitch could be heard.

But the day warmed up. As the disparate elements of the Barmy Army found each other and the Jamaicans found their way into the ground after work the volume and fun factor rose. While the day's cricket was not exactly exciting and while the day in the crowd was not a classic, by the end of it you felt that this was a game and an atmosphere bubbling under and ready to go.

Let's hope so.

From one cricket mad country to another, the Barmy Army bandwagon rolls on. But while India has its own charm in a crazy, polluted, rickshaw-laden way, Jamaica is laid back with a clean heat that makes you happy to be alive. And where the welcome of the Indians was an overexcited hyperactive one, here it's more of a laid back enthusiasm. "Welcome to paradise," as one of our hotel staff said to us this morning.

As you walk the streets cars beep a hello. The English cricket fans are in town and boy do we feel welcome. Compared to the dramas preceding the Indian tour, this seems simple, although in truth there was a different kind of drama as we arrived at Gatwick for our flight. While some people missed out on the India tour because of the rescheduling, some will miss the beginning of this one because of the good old British weather.

Rumour has it 120 people were missing of the Virgin flight to Kingston and most of those people were stuck on the M25 in gridlock traffic. Those of us who made it feel a little bit guilty. Before the main event the Barmy Army will play a team put together by the legend that is Courtney Walsh. Then it's into the main event.

I'll be writing missives on Cricinfo throughout the tour and if you check out the Barmy Army website at www.barmyarmy.com/calendar you can check out more details of what's going on in the stands every day.