This week I want to look back at the entire Premier cricket season – the good, the bad and the ugly.

What happened to some of my earlier predictions? Administratively, are we where we should be? What about the umpires? How are our grounds and facilities? Where does it all leave us when it comes to the future of cricket?

Early in the season I boldly made predictions that Southampton Rangers and Social Club would be merely mid-table teams at best and both have made me eat my words as they fight for the league title.

Rangers have three games to go and if they win them all, then the title race will be decided by net run rate. I have to admit they have surprised me with their accomplishments after losing two very good players in the off season in Dwayne Leverock and Curtis Jackson.

Social Club, like Rangers, have also surprised me as I considered them an average team, but what they do have is great team unity.

Charlie Marshall has instilled a winning attitude in them and they are committed to the cause, which makes them a tough team to beat. A knight in shining armor for Social Club this year in crunch matches has been Ricky Hoyte. He didn't play a whole lot of matches, but when he did his batting ability proved too much for teams to handle.

Whichever team wins the league they will have deserved it, as both teams have been very consistent all season.

From an administrative standpoint we as a country have a few things to iron out for next season.

Do we still continue to persevere with the one-day open league? Is it serving the purpose that it was designed for? As of late so many teams have been either not showing up or playing with eight or nine men, mostly youngsters.

There have been scheduling issues due to lack of fields around the Island. The junior cricket league starts April/May and finishes in June. Can we not have this league run through at least part of the summer?

The fact is our children are hardly even playing cricket in schools, so just when they get a taste, then the league is over.

Sure, in previous years the children had the Cricket Board camps, but as the years have gone by the numbers have dwindled to the point where the Board joined their camp with the Government Summer Day Camp.

How do we revamp our summer cricket camps that once used to produce more than a hundred kids?

Where are the umpires?

This is an area that I am extremely concerned about.

Those that have been in place have done the best that they could, but the lack of them, in my opinion, brings the game into disrepute.

Not having two umpires to the majority of the games is very unprofessional.

You have to worry if you have one umpire, let alone two, which does not motivate teams in a positive way at all.

All of this has caused loads of disciplinary issues to go unnoticed and it is not good for the game. Several players have brought the game into disrepute by either hitting stumps down, throwing bats as they walk off the field, swearing at umpires and they have not been written up.

I took the time to ask an umpire why they lack consistency when it comes to reporting players. He responded by saying, "why should we, when nothing will get done".

If players are being reported and getting off, even though they have committed an offence, we are setting a bad precedent for our youth.

Personally, I think that this entire situation is appalling and I reach out to former players to come back and assist in this area as we desperately need more quality umpires.

Now, let's discuss our grounds and facilities. This year I have seen some of the worst prepared wickets. It is clear that clubs are not putting enough time into preparing our wickets. If the standard of our cricket is to improve, players must bat and bowl on better wickets.

Batsmen cannot stroke the ball if it's jumping all over the place. Bowlers can bowl a rank short ball that would roll and get a batsman out LBW and the bowler feels as if he has bowled well. Too many fields opened late this year causing a schedule backlog and confusion.

If we are being honest, what have most clubs in Bermuda done to improve their grounds/facilities in the last 15 years? Need I say anymore!

Bermuda, the future of cricket is on a knife's edge. We have some quality young players coming through.

When I think of Kamau Leverock, Joshua Gilbert, Jonte' Smith, and Greg Maybury just to name a few, Bermuda has a bright future. However, as a country we need to become more professional in our approach to everything from administration, to umpires, grounds, and how we coach our youth.

It is a positive thing to note that even though we have these problems in our sport, we still have the raw talent being produced right here on this Island. As a result it is extremely important that we come together sooner rather than later and save our national sport.

Motto for the week: Write the negative in the sand and the positive in marble – Author anonymous