When Tony made it a tour to remember

I play for Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC) in Hong Kong, the second-oldest cricket club in the territory (established 1894). Every now and then, our club organises a tour to a foreign destination to have some fun, and play some cricket, in that order.

In 2012, we decided to visit Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis. Going halfway across the globe was a challenge itself, but the cricketers at CCC have no fear!

Every tour, we would produce a tour brochure that tells the story of CCC. As brochure editor, other than the normal "welcome messages", I was looking for something distinctively Caribbean. A few legendary players came to my mind but I knew if I got Tony Cozier, I would get the whole region.

One little difficulty, though: I did not know Tony and I did not have his contact. Despite the power of the internet, the only thing I could get was that he wrote for The Nation. And in true retro fashion, I sent him a snail mail and just hoped.

A month before the tour, a pleasant surprise came through my email account and it was Tony. He apologised (which was unnecessary) for the delay, and attached was his generous contribution to our brochure. The article was beautiful in a sense that it is all genuine - not the kind of "thank you for coming, wish you enjoy it" standard stuff. For Tony to do that for someone he didn't know was very moving.

Our tour group also had the pleasure of meeting Tony during the tour. It was at the 3 Ws Oval and we were playing the Wanderers Cricket Club, his club. He came late in the day to greet and chat with us. To have the pleasure of his company and talk cricket was splendid.

He even went the extra mile. Our tour group was at the first day of the West Indies-Australia Test in Barbados, and he requested the cameraman to have a shot at our group and introduced CCC to viewers across the world. We got multiple messages on our phones saying, "We saw you on TV!" Being called out by one of the greatest commentators of all time will remain a treasured memory forever.

RIP Tony.