Since before I can remember, the thought of playing cricket in the West Indies was enough to send a nervous shiver down the spine of all God-fearing Englishmen. Baying crowds; glowering fast bowlers; the wince-inducing thud of leather against unprotected flesh: Caribbean cricket is a world away from the cream teas and snoozing spectators commonly found at England's tranquil county grounds.
Results bore this out. A series of frankly terrifying West Indian teams did not lose a single Test series against any opponent, home or away, between 1980 and 1995. In their own backyards – on the islands of Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Trinidad and the mainland of Guyana – the Windies were nigh on invincible.
Over the same 15-year period, England played 20 Tests in the Caribbean and won two. Egos were battered and bones broken. In 1986, Mike Gatting famously returned home looking like a giant panda, after an especially brutal bouncer from Malcolm Marshall broke his nose and gave him a pair of symmetrical shiners. Marshall later said he found shards of Gatting's nose embedded in the ball. And so it went on, tour after tour, as England's cricketers – and, by proxy, their long-suffering supporters – took one hell of a beating. A new sporting term was even coined: the "blackwash".
Thankfully, as England's cricketing powers waxed and the West Indies' waned, the pain abated. At the same time, international travel became cheaper, allowing a growing number of cricket enthusiasts to follow England teams to the Caribbean with something approaching confidence.
In fact, thousands are in Bridgetown, Barbados, now, where they have been watching England lose a series of Twenty20 internationals against the West Indies, as both sides prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh. Some old habits die hard.
The start of this trend in cricket-centric holidays is impossible to pinpoint but it became increasingly popular in the 1990s, thanks in part to the swelling ranks of the self-styled Barmy Army, a band of globetrotting cricket followers founded in 1994.
English cricket's moment of Caribbean catharsis came later, in 2004, when the Test side won an away series against the West Indies for the first time since 1968. I was lucky enough to be there to see it. This pivotal encounter included many eye-catching heroics. Yet despite a hat-trick from Yorkshire swing bowler Matthew Hoggard and dashing centuries from Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, the highlight was undoubtedly watching Brian Lara, the West Indian captain, scoring a record-breaking 400 not out at the Recreation Ground in St John's, Antigua.
The old Rec, which is no longer used for cricket, is today a crumbling monument to the West Indies' former glories. It is flanked on one side by a prison, where Viv Richards' father Mervin once worked and whose inmates doubled as groundsmen, pulling the heavy roller back and forth over the square between games. Because tickets were cheap and the Rec a short stroll from the centre of town, crowds would swell and ebb in sympathy with the fortunes of the home team.
Naturally, when Lara scored his 400th run, the stands erupted. Flag-waving Antiguans rushed from all sides to embrace their hero. Dozens more whooped and blew conch shells from the branches of trees overlooking the ground. At the lunch interval, I bought one of a hastily printed run of T-shirts bearing the motto: "400 not out: we have dem now!"
Sadly, Test cricket is no longer played at the Recreation Ground, although you can still take an atmospheric tour of its dilapidated stands and historic pavilion. A football pitch now cuts across the square, a sign that the beautiful game is vying for many young Antiguans' sporting affections. The old rivalry with England remains intense, however, and is now being refreshed by an invasion of amateur cricketers, who are flocking to the island on exotic pre-season trips representing their local clubs and schools.
During my trip – shadowing an U19 team from Leicestershire on a tour organised by the Richie Richardson Cricket Academy – there were almost unlimited opportunities to practise, play, watch, discuss and debate cricket. Even our hotel, the all-inclusive Jolly Beach Resort & Spa, boasted its own on-site cricket pitch and practice facilities.
Once visiting teams have got their eye in, they are paired with local Antiguan club sides of equivalent ability. (Though beware an athletic Antiguan with a glint in his eye: it turned out that one of the Leicestershire team's opponents had recently been called up by the national squad.) Further coaching and net practice is available and if you're on the island at the right time you can learn from former West Indian stars, including Winston Benjamin, Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson.
Between innings, there is still time for tours of Antigua's historic dockyard, a circumnavigatory boat trip and an offshore nature excursion to "Stingray City", where you can stroke the outlandish inhabitants. I would also recommend another of Jolly Beach's athletic excursions: a dawn hike from the Sir Vivian Richards stadium, which is 15 minutes east of St John's, to Shirley Heights, a steep hill that overlooks English Harbour on the south coast.
Be warned, however. This "early morning stroll" is far more taxing than the locals would have you believe. First, it starts at 5am, so hikers can reach the summit before the sun beats down too fiercely. The pace is set by handful of friendly but forceful fitness instructors and can be literally blistering.
Three hours and 10 long miles later, when you finally reach "The Lookout", a fortification on the summit of Shirley Heights, you are rewarded with a postcard view of the island and a freshly cooked fish for breakfast. I was so delighted to stop hiking, I took commemorative photographs of both.
It is a rare treat, however, to see Antigua in the hours before dawn with a clear head. And as we marched onward and upward, my fellow hikers gave me a fascinating history of the villages we passed. One pointed out the childhood home of 6ft 7in fast bowler Curtly Ambrose, whose mother used to ring a bell – at all hours of the day and night – whenever her son took a wicket. In the West Indies, there is a cricketing twist to every tale.
VC Bird International is Antigua's (ANU) international airport. Flights tend to leave Britain in the late morning, arriving in mid to late afternoon, and then return to Britain overnight, arriving by 7am the following morning.
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) flies to Antigua three times a week from London Gatwick, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
British Airways (www.britishairways.com) flies into Antigua from London Gatwick once a day.
Touring cricket teams will be well served by the Jolly Beach Resort (00800 1 235 6559; jollybeachresort.com), a reasonably priced, all-inclusive hotel with 464 rooms that overlooks one of Antigua's best and longest beaches. The resort has its own cricket pitch and practice facilities. For further details about cricket tours, fixtures and coaching on the Antigua contact the Richie Richardson Cricket Academy (richierichardsoncricketacademy.com).
Seven nights in Antigua with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic from London Gatwick direct to Antigua, all-inclusive accommodation at the Jolly Beach Resort and Spa and airport transfers starts from £895. Price is per person based on two adults travelling and sharing a special offer room, including all applicable taxes and fuel surcharges which are subject to change. Price is based on a departure on June 3 (0844 557 3859; virginholidays.co.uk).
The best time to go is the winter season, between mid-December and mid-April: the weather is at its worst in Britain and at its coolest and driest in Antigua.
If you are looking for a deal, prices outside of this period drop by as much as a third, and yet the weather is not radically different in early December or in May and June. By July and August it is much hotter but not usually unbearable. September (and to a lesser extent August and October) is peak season for hurricanes and Antigua is often in the firing line. It is also very muggy and hot during these months.
A simple takeaway in a pink, blue and yellow shed on the main strip in English Harbour. Hearty West Indian food such as curried conch is available, but Grace is famous for making the best roti on the island. (Dockyard Drive, English Harbour; 001 268 460 1298).
A relaxed bar and restaurant on the south-west coast that serves excellent seafood and knockout cocktails. Lobster is a speciality. OJ's hosts live jazz between 7pm and 10pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (Crabb Hill Beach; 460 0184).