The 2008 cricket season could be a defining one for the game on the Island, and Bermuda's future as a cricketing nation.

Changes in the domestic schedule, coupled with the build-up to another World Cup qualifying campaign, mean that this year will be critical in assessing whether the country has gone forwards, or as some fear backwards, after recent successes.

Allen Richardson, the vice-president of Bermuda Cricket Board, believes this is a time for optimism, when the new generation of Bermudian cricketers will carry the country's hopes on their shoulders. But there is danger too, if the next generation are not taught the true value of the sport.

The troubles that have plagued the game in recent years remain under the surface, rising all too frequently to damage any progress that is being made. And society, some believe, has changed to such an extent that the love of the game has dwindled to nothing more than an appreciation.

To the true believers like Richardson and national coach Gus Logie, who love and cherish the game, and know what it means to succed at the highest level, cricket is a way of life, almost a religious sense of being.

While making the World Cup was a fine achievement, and one that can be repeated, Bermuda's standing among other nations appears to be dwindling and can only improve if the national squad can develop beyond the one-day game.

"From my thinking it is no longer a pipe dream that we can make the World Cup," said Richardson. "It has been proven, with a bit of luck, hard work, and dedication. We can make the World Cup, we have done it already.

"There were mistakes, I think some of us were a little bit naive in thinking that if we . . . we had all this money, we had all these trips, we had all this competition going, we took all the excuses away from the players.

"We probably thought (in that situation) the players would automatically want to get involved and make the most of it.

"But we have seen that is not the case. I think the big disappointment came by the way the players were perceived to be playing. They were perceived to be not putting in their best effort.

"I think that was the main point, even myself, I'm almost certain that there were small, achieveable goals, that each one of those players could have aspired to. And I think by each one of them looking towards those goals, then it would have made the whole team look as if they were putting in a bit more effort than they really were."

That though is in the past, and Richardson is determined to look forward to a Bermuda side that can compete with the best.

"I think we must take the best under-16s, 20 of the them, and literally school them in cricket, and train them, and educate them. But having said that, I have a good feel about our under-19 team."

That means not just for the one-day tournaments, but for the four-day Intercontinental Cup as well.

The need to help players develop their ability to see beyond a 50-over thrash was one of the driving forces behind the change in the domestic schedule.

Ideally, the two-day game would have stayed, but getting the players involved proved to be unworkable. Instead this season there will be a new one-day game, based on the format used for the county matches.

It will be 120 overs, with the first side that bats getting a maximum of 65 overs. Bowlers too will benefit, with the restriction on the number of overs they can bowl being taken away.

"They (the players) just do not have the mentality, whether bowling or batting, to actually fit into a four-day match," said Richardson. "We need to educate them so that they can develop an innings, or think a batsman out."

The problem though goes deeper than just an inability to concentrate for four days. There is a belief that people on the Island like cricket, but they do not truly love it. They do not live it, breathe it, respect and understand it like other nations do. The affluent nature of the Bermudian way of life is to blame to a certain extent, but it does not explain the lack of hunger, or pride, or desire to be challenged at a higher level

As Richardson acknowledged, it is not enough to be good in Bermuda, for on a global scale, that counts for very little.

"We make a few runs here in Bermuda and we play in Bermuda and I think sometimes we have to look at it in its proper perspective. How did you make your runs? Who were you playing against? When we go that little step higher, it's a huge difference.

"And somehow we have got to make our cricketers love the game of cricket, appreciate it, respect it, and be passionate about it. If you're passionate about something you scream at the game, you're up when you win, and down when you lose.

"I don't think most of our players understand what cricket can do for them and their lives, their overall life, and the opportunities that now abound in the sport. It is difficult, we are dealing with a different generation, and I can say that because I'm 50.

"The respect and the love of the sport is just not there, and to say exactly what will it take, I don't know. It's going to be a full gamut of things. To tell you the type of player that we have today - we had to take away every excuse you could come up with for not wanting to play for your country. I don't know if some of them really love the game, because in my day if someone said 'you can play cricket six days out of the week', I'd be there six days out of the week."

The changes that Richardson wants to see will not come about just because he wants it. It will require the co-operation from everybody on the Island, and the sniping from the sidelines will have to stop as well.

"It is gut-wrenching to hear some of the things that are said about the board," said Richardson.

"We have the sport at heart and it isn't good enough for the public to sit and snipe from the sidelines when things go wrong. There are people who have an axe to grind, and it's time to bury the hatchet.

"We can make cricket in Bermuda better, but it requires the assistance of all cricket lovers on the Island, we need to have more people be a part of things."