Hampshire will once again be travelling to Barbados for their pre-season preparation.

The tour departs on March 15 and provisionally takes in matches against Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Warwickshire as well as a dedicated one-day Twenty20 competition before flying back on March 27.

It will be the third time in two years that the Hampshire squad have been out to Barbados, having reached the final of the Caribbean T20 competition early in 2011 followed by a highly successful pre-season there in March.

This year, the Rose Bowl side’s season starts with a home LV= County Championship match against Gloucestershire on 12 April.

First XI Coach, Giles White said, “It’s very important to get everything right before the first game and Barbados is a big part of that. We’re very fortunate to be going. The wickets are good out there – we saw that last year. We’re looking forward to it.”