When I woke up this morning I was very surprised by a phone call from skipper Steve Waugh.

He asked me if I would be interested in going for a visit to Boys Town Cricket Club in Trench Town, Jamaica. A friend of our manager Steve Bernard had invited us to visit the Boys Town complex, an experience I was assured would not be worth missing.

Of course I jumped at the chance, but why the surprise you may ask?

Last night I was invited for dinner with Jimmy Adams and his best mate, second test hero 'Johnny' Perry. Both guys are from Jamaica and during the course of the evening they told me incredible stories about life in Kingston, particularly life in Trench Town and cricket at the Boys Town Cricket Club. While their stories had me in stitches of laughter I was shocked, to say the least, at the 'seriousness' of this place called Boys Town.

They talked of gang warfare, guns, unemployment, shootings, drugs and deprivation. From their accounts the cricket ground was no ordinary cricket ground. It wasn't unusual to hear gunfire during an afternoon's play, and it wasn't uncommon to have play halted by the 'bosses' of the gangs swaggering their way across the field just to see if any one wanted to tempt their fate. Gangsters wearing guns, dark sunglasses and thick gold chains replace spectators sitting on picnic rugs.

It also became apparent that you only entered Trench Town and the cricket club by invitation only. I quickly came to the conclusion that invitees would be protected species, but unwelcome, or uninvited guests would be like walking, shooting targets. In my mind the closest picture I had, was that Trench Town was like the Bronx in America.

It was something of a coincidence when 'Tugga' called, as this picture was fresh in my mind from the night before.

My initial question was; 'are you sure we will be safe?'

I have a family to think about now you know!

When he said that we have an invitation, I remembered what I had been told last night. An invitation was like a green light I figured, so off we went to Trench Town, a place that you may have heard about in some of Bob Marley's lyrics. As we approached the district I honestly became a little nervous. Facing Ambrose and Walsh with a new ball is one thing, facing a gun is another.

I shouldn't have worried!

What a magnificent life experience I was treated to. Along with 'Tugga', Steve Bernard and Mike Walsh, we enjoyed a very warm welcome in a place, that until two years ago, had been destroyed and gutted by gang wars of political motivation. At first I thought we would be as welcome to this place as Monica Lewinsky is to a Clinton family Christmas dinner.

I was wrong.

We visited the cricket club where we greeted with open arms. Then we were invited inside Bob Marley's first home, a run-down old shack, made of sheets of metal and wood, and which is still lived in today by a big family of poor, but very happy, smiling, beautiful children. We were stopped on the streets by big, hard looking men who wanted to talk cricket and have their photos taken, particularly with Stephen.

Immaculately dressed, well-mannered, beaming school kids, who were excited at seeing people from the 'outside' world presented us with Boys Town t-shirts.

From the shoeless kids running around the streets to the toughest of the tough men, my digital camera fascinated everyone. They were all amazed by the fact that I could take a photo, and two seconds later show them the shot on the small screen. When the word spread around that I had this camera, half of Trench Town wanted to be photographed and then show off the image to all their friends. This was a humbling experience. Something so normal to me, yet so completely foreign to them!

Almost as foreign, I guess, as seeing white strangers investigating their streets!

Through cricket I have been given many fantastic experiences. Soweto's shantytowns in South Africa, the slums in Pakistan to Buckingham Palace in London. Vastly different worlds and yet all experiences I have been privileged to have lived. My memories of Boys Town and Trench Town will be very fond ones, which will be cherished.

From Jamaica, JL