A cricket season that started in January for some has finally come to an end and not for the first time the bad aspects of the game on the Island have heavily outweighed the good.Failed drug tests, player apathy, player violence and a seemingly directionless governing body are issues that have once again all raised their ugly heads over the past nine months.The game both on and off the field is in a bad way, and the continued cycle of inadequate facilities, a poor domestic game, poor leadership and a club structure that largely fails to provide proper coaching means progress has been almost non-existent.There were plenty of highlights too; Dion Stovell’s 73 against Namibia in Dubai was a truly impressive innings, there was finally a winner at Cup Match, young players such as Kamau Leverock, Lateef Trott, and Tre Manders came on in leaps and bounds, and the bonus points system that was introduced this season will eventually improve the standard of the domestic game.Results at international level show a national team in decline and the fact that Bermuda managed to win just one game in the Division Two tournament in April, and again failed to beat Canada or USA in the Twenty20 tournament in July shows just how far the team has fallen.While there is an argument to be made that the current squad as a group are neither as talented, nor as ready, as their predecessors, their successes have only served to mask the institutional failings of the game on the Island, which are now being exposed for all the world to see.Players are still reaching the senior team struggling with the basics of the game; building an innings, running between the wickets, bowling a disciplined line and length. Given that most of these players are in their late teens and early 20s that means Bermuda’s cricket has been broken for a decade or more.However, that is only part of the problem. Commitment, or a lack thereof, coupled with players who believe they can pick and choose when to play or train, has had a corrosive affect on the game at every level.David Moore has been in charge for roughly 18 months and he hasn’t yet been able to name a starting XI featuring the ‘best’ players on the Island. The MCC tour was the latest example of this where some opted out because they didn’t fancy it, or, in the case of Allan Douglas Jnr, decided to play in a meaningless training game for St George’s football team, rather than make his debut for his country.No matter what David Hemp or Moore may say publicly, Bermuda are not going to succeed at the Twenty20 Global Qualifiers in Dubai next March and their chances of escaping Division Three in 2013 look equally slim.Breaking the cycle of mediocrity is going to require a change in culture, which Moore has been trying to do, not always with the support he might have hoped for, and the events of this season suggest it might be time to change the personnel, on and off the field, as well.Executive members of Bermuda Cricket Board have pointed to the Island’s world ranking of 21 and seem genuinely puzzled by people’s concern with that position, which shows that it’s not just on the field that Bermuda have been an embarrassment on occasion.The recently completed MCC tour was a perfect example of how not to do something from an administrative side and much of the responsibility for that lies with the chief executive and the Board.Hardly awash with money, the BCB were handed a fundraiser on a plate with the inclusion of Geoffrey Boycott in the MCC touring party. The decision to try and auction off a round of golf with Boycott at $1000 a time was misguided at best, and the failure to arrange an after dinner speaking event with the former Yorkshire and England great was just baffling.Several members of the MCC, both players and management, were heard to wonder outloud what exactly was going on with Bermuda cricket and Boycott’s assertion that the Island needed ‘a dynamic person interested in cricket’ in charge spoke volumes.Domestically the year has been little better, although Glenn Blakeney’s record-breaking innings of 218 against Flatts, Lionel Cann’s Cup Match winning 49, and Willow Cuts winning the Western Counties for the first time in a while are all highlights. As were St David’s Premier Division win, and Southampton Rangers coming back from the brink to avoid relegation and become only the second side to win the Twenty20 competition.Mixed in with that, however, have been the usual disciplinary problems, a standard of umpiring that sometimes leaves players and spectators alike scratching their heads, and several clubs once again failing to adequately deal with the gang violence that plagues the Island.Cleveland County, a shining example of what can be achieved with good coaching, will join a new six-team Premier Division next season and while a streamlined top-flight should go some way to improving the standard of domestic cricket, it probably doesn’t go far enough.A strong national team needs a strong domestic competition, but at the moment the top sides are still too diluted by average cricketers, while some good cricketers, such as Somerset’s Joshua Gilbert, are wasting their time in the First Division. There simply aren’t 66 good cricketers on the Island, at a stretch there are 44, and in the absence of an ‘Elite League’ the top flight should probably be cut even further.The BCB’s own numbers bare this out too. Only three batsmen managed to average more than 50 over the course of the season, with Clay Smith, dodgy knees and all, coming out on top averaging 81 runs.OJ Pitcher was next with 66.75 and Tre Manders third with 53.1. After that Ricardo Brangman and Chris Douglas both averaged 39.33. Bermuda opener Dion Stovell, meanwhile, scored 234 runs at an average of just 26.Bermuda go into yet another winter in serious danger of falling even further behind other Associate nations. The Island is still without a turf practice wicket, there is no indoor facility worthy of the name.It is now nearly 12 months since Bermuda were preparing for the Division Two tournament and little seems to have changed. Seasons come and seasons go, and the issues that have damaged cricket on the Island remain. Next month’s annual general meeting represents the first chance for clubs, administrators and players to try and turn things around, or the status quo will remain and 12 months from now Bermuda cricket will be slipping further and further behind.