THIS past week, behind the scenes, there was quite a bit going on with Bermuda cricket.

Bermuda Cricket Board, through the West Indies Board, put on Level One and Level Two coaching courses. In addition, Richard Dunne the ICC High Performance officer met the new High Performance committee.

Both the cricket coaching courses and the meeting with Dunne focused on improving local cricket. However, the question still remains: "Where are the cricketers?"

A month ago the selection committee chose a training squad of approximately 25 players. With great displeasure, I can report that the training sessions have been attracting, on average, six to seven players.

Why have we seen such a decline in player attendance? Players have to understand and realise that playing for your country is the ultimate achievement in cricket (I know it sounds like a broken record).

Personally, I am disgusted and for the first time since I retired, I am wondering if my decision to retire was premature.

You may recall after the Cricket World Cup there was an immediate outcry for the Cricket Board to disband the whole cricket team. Now that many of us have moved on to make way for young, hungry, energetic players, they are declining the opportunity to represent their country.

Normally, I would be reluctant to dive in and try to get to the root of the problem, but having played with Bermuda for the last 18 years I am sure I know what the problem is.

To be blunt about it, our problem is simply money and drugs. Players these days feel they should be getting paid to train for their country and those that do not mind training are afraid to get drug tested. There you have it!

I can see the older senior players like Irving (Romaine), (Kevin) Hurdle and Sluggo (Dwayne Leverock) being compensated financially as they have been in place since Ireland, but for these young up and coming players who have yet to prove themselves, I say "no way!"

As for the drug issue, we recently had three players trying out for the national team fail the drug test. It still remains to be seen whether they will be allowed the opportunity to play this season as the policy in place is an automatic one-year ban.

Having looked at the squad that was presented, a pretty good team can surely be formed if all are present.

As of date some big name players whot have been missing from training include Janeiro Tucker, OJ Pitcher, Deylone Borden and Malachi Jones.

Kevin Hurdle has also been absent, but that is due to a shoulder injury that will keep him out of action for some time.

Where are these big-name players and do they realise what is at stake? Does the opportunity to play in another Cricket World Cup not motivate and excite them?

Also to the players who are training, I have to ask, do you know what commitment means? I have to warn these players of what they are up against.

When Bermuda are at full strength and fully committed, only then can we compete with these teams.

So if you want to go and continuously end up with bad results time and time again, then continue doing what you are doing.

The fact of the matter is from our Under-19s there are five players who can make a direct impact and of them Chris Douglas' status is unknown, Malachi Jones is 'MIA', Jordan DeSilva appears to be reluctant to make the jump up, thus leaving us with just two Under-19s making themselves available, Rodney Trott and Tamauri Tucker.

So where do we go from here as our cricket is at an all time low?

You, the public, want this person and that person to play, but the reality is players do not want to make the commitment that is necessary at the national level.

What I do not see is you, the public, crying these players down the way that you should.

The first person you want to blame is the Cricket Board, what about the players?

The Board have to make some tough decisions for the betterment of cricket in Bermuda. One thing we do know is, cricket will go on with or without our so called superstars.

Motto for the week: What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle - Joe Paterno