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A new regional season of first-class cricket is under way, bringing with it all of the customary expectations: who will win the championship? Who are the stars that will emerge?

These are the kinds of question the average pundit turns over in his or her mind. The answers should be provided in the next seven weeks.

Last year belonged primarily to batsmen like Carl Hooper and Chris Gayle, both of whom hit over 900 runs, and Leon Garrick who got over 800. Who will cause the buzz this year?

Beyond factors of this type, I think we should continue to monitor the overall standard of the Busta Cup rather than dwell too much on individual glory.

After a humiliating whitewash in Sri Lanka there were management concerns that the standards in regional cricket are very low.

Thus, we can't really tell if we're coming or going even when batsmen can make tons of runs and bowlers take plenty of wickets.

The acid test of achievement and the real proof of merit and class come when successful regional players move up to Test cricket.

This level tends to separate the wheat from the chaff, as we have seen in recent times.

But the regional competition is where we are supposed to assess our players. So quite naturally the selectors, in particular, find themselves in a quandary.

They probably have one of the most difficult non-paying jobs in the Caribbean.

Imagine they are forced to include so-called specialist batsmen in the West Indies team with averages below or just above 20 and bowlers averaging almost 30 per wicket. This is where we are today.

The fact that Barbados won the Busta title last year when they didn't play at their best consistently told us a lot about the state of West Indies cricket.

Still, as eternal optimists, as the overseers of a proud legacy, we have to pray and keep faith in the process while imploring players to take greater responsibility for their approach to the game.

Attitude and character are on par with runs and wickets. The latter won't be achieved without the former.

Of course, the ultimate aim is to put out a product that's world class, that can hold its own in any company.

As far as I know there's no law which says that we should not be seeing some signs of this in the Busta Cup.

Therefore, as a matter of policy this is where our focus should be this season, every season. Everything else will fall into place.

© The Barbados Nation