LAST Thursday Andy Biggins received a telephone call out of the blue.

It was from his successor as Guernsey captain Stuart Le Prevost.

‘Stu rang me up and as I answered I was joking “don’t say you’ve got a problem and you need me to come to Singapore”,’ said the man who led the island to five successive inter-insular victories in the noughties.

‘Stu just said “basically, you’re not far off” and he then explained the situation about Tim [Duke].

At that point, it was still unclear as to whether Duke would be fit to travel this weekend to the World Cricket League Division Five tournament after injuring his right wrist in a cycling accident, but the Guernsey management knew that indications were not promising and the next morning the all-rounder was forced to withdraw.