'Bowled over' by cricketing history: 1895 West Indies tour journals up for auction

Watch a full report from ITV News Anglia's Rob Setchell.

Not many people have heard of Legh Barratt. Fewer still know the key part the farmer from Sheringham played in recording a slice of cricketing history.

Legh played for Norfolk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - but the highlight of his career at the crease came overseas.

He was on the first cricket tour of the West Indies in 1895 and he returned to the Caribbean in 1897.

His trips are documented in two journals which - along with his old kit bag and trusty bat made by Pilch of Norwich - are about to go under the hammer.

Tim Knight, of Knight Auctioneers in Norfolk, expects they will fetch up to £30,000 on Friday - with interest from all over the world.

"I was quite bowled over," he said. "I think it's the social history, the uniqueness of the journals.

"It was the first ever tour of the West Indies. The thought of travelling to London, going down to Southampton getting on a big ship, going to the islands, the heat, the people - it would have been quite staggering and awe-inspiring, I guess."

The journals tell the story of a passionate amateur cricketer who loved the social side of 'the gentleman's game'.

There are accounts of off-the-pitch moments, memorable victories and also embarrassing defeats.

In his final entry, Legh offers a list of six excuses for a crushing 10-wicket defeat to Trinidad including the "dogged pluck" of the opposition, the West Indian heat and the fact the English did not "shirk their social duties" with evening drinking.

"I certainly think he enjoyed life," said Mr Knight. "The cricket, the ladies, the billiards and the booze."