THE millions of dollars our Government is pumping into cricket will not, by itself, solve the problems within our national sport. Nor for that matter, will the $15 million being given to football! The problems run much deeper than anything money can solve. But that's not to say that the money is being wasted, either. I think the $11 million going to cricket over four years can help to turn things around in the sport, but a whole range of things have to applied to the mix if the situation is to improve. The cricket team's performance in Antigua last weekend against Guyana brought home some brutal truths ¿ that we have much to do to be competitive on the international stage.

Qualifying for the World Cup last year should have been a turning point for our cricket but that hasn't been the case. We are still in the doldrums two-and-a-half years after qualifying for the World Cup. We are still no closer to building a settled Bermuda team. There are a few changes in every team leaves on tour. Years ago we could pick the top six in our batting order, but do we even know who our best opening batsmen are now? Or the ideal new ball pairing?

But rather than just criticise I'll try to offer some solutions, just as so many have done on the talk shows and in private conversations over the last few days. Even Bermuda Cricket Board president Reggie Pearman admitted in a newspaper interview that this wasn't our best team. Mr. Pearman, it has been like that for many, many years. We always leave home without two or three of our better players. It happened with Glenn Blakeney when the team went to Ireland and qualified for the World Cup in 2005. It happened with Blakeney and George O'Brien at the World Cup and it happened last weekend in Antigua when we sent a team that one well-known former top player described as "weaker than most Cup Match teams" when we spoke this week. It also happened in the 1990s when another talented left-handed batsman, Richard Basden, chose not to play for his country. Basden kept that stance for several years before having a change of heart a few years ago when he decided to represent his country again. But we were robbed of his best years.

So why is that?

Why don't some of our top players want to play for their country? You don't hear of that in any of the major sporting countries. For many cricketers from places like the West Indies, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh playing for your country presents an opportunity for a better life and to see some of the world in the process. Here, a trip to far-away places isn't a good enough reason for some players to commit to a training programme. With the new season about three months away ¿ and more overseas competition to prepare for this year and next ¿ maybe now is the time for the BCB to establish once and for all those players who are serious about playing for Bermuda and those who aren't. And then not to waste time on those who aren't interested.

Many of our problems need to be tackled at the grassroots and administrative levels, some which the clubs must take responsibility for and some which are the responsibility of the Board. For example, players go through the season not having set goals and targets for themselves because there are no batting and bowling averages published in the newspapers on a regular basis.

That was the case in the 1990s when I used to compile the averages for The Royal Gazette before Dexter Smith took up the task for the Mid-Ocean News in the late 1990s. But it was a painstaking process because even then some clubs didn't have regular scorers that we could rely on.

Fast forward 15 years and not much has changed. In fact things are much worst. Scorecards are hardly even run in the daily paper, which means that the players cannot see their progress on a regular basis and try to achieves their goals of, say, 500 runs or 40 wickets for the season and compare that with other players in the league. How can we pick a player to represent his country and not know what his stats are for the season?

It seems we are picking players based on potential or promise rather than performance ¿ and it has been like that for some years. Where is the incentive for players to want to improve?

Unlike in football where one might say such-and-such a defender seems to be playing well every week, in cricket a player's stats usually does all the talking for him. The Board should make it compulsory that each club have a scorer and submit scoreboards to them in a timely manner. With fax machines and computers, there should no need to drive into town to take match reports to the Board's office. More efficiency from the clubs means more cooperation with the media and better coverage for the players. Isn't that what it is all about?

Here is another suggestion to improve the standard in the league. How about using some of the funds, or seeking sponsorship, to bring in one or two professionals for each of the eight Premier Division clubs, as a starting point. They could be guys in their 20s from places like the West Indies and even Sri Lanka and India and have them spend the season with their local clubs. It might be harder ¿ and more expensive ¿ to attract established Test players because of Test tours etc, but up and coming players without major obligations might be excited about playing overseas during their off-season. They could be paid an agreed fee as 'club pro' and have housing provided for them. The 'guest' player idea isn't new because I remember in the 1980s Bailey's Bay and Southampton Rangers used to field a couple of guest players from the islands during the season. Has anybody noticed how the decline of the Police team has coincided with the drop in standard of league cricket? The Police team was made up mostly of very good West Indian players in the past ¿ players like Robert Hinds, Adrian King, Tyrone Smith, Ronald Greenidge, Dennis Archer, Ferdinand Thorne, Roger Blades, Adsyl Hutson ¿ and these players and the other West Indians in other teams like Colin Blades, Rupert Scotland, Bergon Spencer, Winston Reid and Lionel Thomas all contributed to the high standard of cricket we enjoyed up until about 15 or 20 years ago.

Without question playing against the West Indians ¿ especially at the time when the West Indies Test team was the best in the world ¿ on a regular basis helped to make us better players. Bermudian players had an extra incentive to do well against them. Every team upped their game when playing against Police! And even with the annual Bermuda versus West Indies match, the records will show that Bermuda won the bulk of the contests. Even so, there was keen competition between the teams and many of those same West Indians went on to qualify to play for Bermuda in international competition. Most are still living in Bermuda.

I will never forget Winston Reid's innings in the 1981 Cup Match ¿ Clarence Parfitt's last ¿ when he decided he was going to take on Parfitt, the most feared bowler in Cup Match history and smashed 82 in Somerset's first innings to help Somerset win by nine wickets. Parfitt, who had the unflattering figures one for 77 from 18 overs in the first innings, lost in his only match as captain and promptly announced his retirement at the end of the match. He said then that he wanted to spend more time coaching and did so in Scotland where he still resides, helping develop Scotland's cricket. Sadly Bermuda's best bowler never made it back to these shores to pass on his vast knowledge, even though he expressed interest in doing so as far back as the 1980s when the Board under Ed Bailey approached him. Bermuda's up and coming bowlers would have learned so much from the man who is widely regarded as our greatest bowling talent.

Another Clarence Parfitt might never come around again, but there is some hope now that the youth programme is up and running again after being neglected once Shell stopped running the Shell Youth League. The current Sports Minister, El James, knows all about that programme ¿ he was one of the key organisers and was manager when they took a youth team to Canada in 1988.

Somehow we have to find a way to unearth and then nurture some of the talent that exists in the under 13, under 15 and under 15 teams. I do agree with 'Recman' that the Stanford 20/20 tournament isn't the place to develop young talent, but I disagree with his suggestion that Charlie Marshall should be recalled to the Bermuda team. Charlie is in his mid-40s and coming to the end of his career and, 'Recman', we cannot go backward and forward at the same time. Rather than go back and get Charlie perhaps what we should focus on is going 'back' into the youth divisions and finding another Charlie¿finding another Noel Gibbons¿ another Clevie Wade¿another Dennis Wainwright¿another Lee Raynor¿another 'Coe' Trott and bring them through. Maybe one day even another Clarence Parfitt.

Long-term investments don't reap results overnight. But with patience and proper programmes in place we can turn things around. It starts in the clubs with the youth. Let's invest some of that money to send youth teams abroad every year to places like West Indies and England so that they can be exposed to better facilities and stiffer competition. That is what is happening to the Under-19s in the World Cup in Malaysia. Even if they never win a game they will be better players ¿ and better young men ¿ for the experience.