IT’S testimony to the rapid decline in the credibility of West Indies cricket that a new-look regional domestic first-class season opened yesterday with very little fanfare.

This, despite the fact that a professional franchise system has been introduced in regional four-day cricket for the very first time. And that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has sensibly returned to the home-and-away format, thereby lengthening the season.

Yet we can safely predict that as the season progresses, only the dwindling number of die-hards will be presenting themselves at grounds around the region; and media coverage will be similarly soft.

That dangerous loss of enthusiasm is as connected to the disappointingly inconsistent performance of the West Indies cricket team over recent years, as it is to a perception of chronically poor management and woefully inadequate commitment and awareness on the part of players.

The recent disgraceful abandonment of the tour of India, the consequences of which are now threatening the future of West Indies cricket, underline public perceptions.

We note that following intervention by Caricom heads, most notably Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dr Keith Mitchell of Grenada, a full-strength West Indies team has been named for the upcoming Test-match tour of South Africa, the important condition being that selected players sign contracts well in advance of departure.

Whether all the players — including those who were part of the scandalous walk-out on the one-day tour of India — will sign the contracts will be a matter of considerable interest over the next few days.

In other circumstances, the leadership of the WICB may well have felt within their rights to omit the ‘ring-leaders’ in India from the tour to South Africa. The problem, it seems to this newspaper, is that in this case, those at the helm of the WICB are morally incapable of taking disciplinary action. That’s because they must also be blamed for thus far unexplained inaction when it became clear the players in India were intent on destructive action.

We are aware that the issues which led to the fall-out in India have now gone to arbitration — an avenue which quite obviously should have been sought at the initial stage of the dispute, instead of abandoning the tour of India.

Perhaps with the help of others, this breakdown involving the top West Indies players, their union, West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), and the WICB can be smoothed out.

How to settle with India — the real rulers of international cricket, who are demanding US$42 million in compensation and are also threatening other sanctions — is another matter altogether.

And what’s to be done to ensure that a disaster such as this never happens again?

This newspaper agrees with Dr Gonsalves that there must be urgent reform of the “management and administrative systems” of West Indies cricket, making those in charge more accountable and more in line with modern governance and business practice.

Otherwise, the region is doomed to more disasters such as occurred in India, inevitably leading to the death of West Indies cricket.