Flackwell Heath striker Gavin James has revealed how his journey into international football began with an email.

When the 26-year-old was alerted by a friend in America that the birthplace of his parents and grandparents, St Vincent and the Grenadines, were on the lookout for players he got in touch without a thought that it would lead to anything more.

But after the Caribbean country contacted Heath about the forward, who netted 38 times as Flackwell won the Hellenic Premier Division this season, James is now preparing for a two legged World Cup qualifier against Guyana.

As he spoke to the Free Press on Tuesday morning he was making his way to the departure gate ready to fly out and join up with his new national team mates – an experience which he described as “surreal”.

“They contacted me and said they were interested in having me over, asked who I played for and they asked for a few press clipping and links to articles from this season,” said James.

“Because Flackwell did quite well this season there was quite a lot out there which gave us a lot of help.

“It was on the Friday (May 29) night when we were travelling to our Hellenic awards dinner when I got the email saying that they wanted me to fly out there.”

The Flackwell forward will join up with St Vincent, who are ranked 110th in the world, for a training camp as they prepare for the first leg on Wednesday (June 10) which will be hosted on home soil at the Arnos Vale stadium – a venue used for Test match cricket by the West Indies.

James’ route to international football has been made possible by his uncle, who lives in St Maarten and arranged an apartment for his nephew to stay in.

His employers, Chesham Grammar School, also played their part by encouraging him to take the opportunity.

James said: “I’m training to be a teacher so I was on half term and when I got this information I had to drop a text to the head of PE.

“He said ‘there’s no way we’re going to stop you doing that’, so I went into school yesterday (Monday) and spoke to the head teacher and he said ‘go for it’. “Quite a lot of people in High Wycombe have a St Vincent background and that’s made me realise what a big deal it is.

“At first I thought ‘oh, I’m just going out there to play football’ but the more texts that come in have just made me think that this is a much bigger deal than I thought.”

It wasn’t just from family member and his employers that James received support from, with his team mates and manager at Flackwell keen to follow his foray into international football.

Heath boss Graham Malcolm urged the striker to take the chance and says he and the rest of the club will be following his progress carefully over the course of the two-legged tie.

“He said to me at the Hellenic dinner on Friday ‘what do you think?’ and all I said was ‘what an opportunity, don’t even give it a thought and just go’,” said Malcolm. “He’s the sort of guy that this would take him back, get him thinking and he’s not the sort of person that would announce this – he’s not that type of guy at all.

“In fact, I had to ask him on Monday whether it was alright if it went to press because I thought it was a good thing and even then he was a bit reluctant. I said ‘it’s going to go on Flackwell’s website because people need to know’ and it’s as simple as that.”

If St Vincent make it past Guyana, who count Bolton midfielder Neil Danns and former Millwall man Matthew Briggs among their ranks, they will enter the third of five qualification rounds where they could face Jamaica.

Having played all his football at a semi-professional level the frontman has no idea what to expect from his first taste of the international scene and he will be among a squad of players who predominantly play for football clubs on the island.

If James impresses during the training camp he will hope to be making the journey to South America for the second leg on June 14 against the Golden Jaguars.

He said: “First of all it started as an experience and now it’s a case of I might as well make the most of it.

“They’re sorting me out with a St Vincent passport when I get out there because we’ve got to fly to Guyana for the second leg and they’ve already told me to book my flight home for the 17th, which is after the qualifiers. I’m hoping that I’ll get some minutes at least.”