Officials in glass houses...

This thing called West Indies cricket is really like spinning top in mud, and with so much rain around, it's no wonder we are sinking deeper and deeper into strife. Everyone, depending on his or her perspective, has the solution to the problem. You don't have to go seeking their views so much as it is being thrust upon you from every angle, and usually begins with: "All we have to do to get back on top is.. "

Then follows a long-winded tirade against either one of the administrators, the players, the captain, the coach, the selectors, the umpires, the media or the ICC, just to name a few. As far as most fans are concerned, things aren't all that bad because just fixing what they have identified as the main problem will see us shooting back to the top of the list. Yet the fact that so many are so forcefully convincing on so many different sore points in the regional game actually confirms that the challenge goes way beyond merely firing the West Indies Cricket Board or sacking the captain and coach.

It is all-encompassing, an entrenched malaise that, even with the very best will and most inspiring ideas in the world, will take several more years to emerge from. And when you have to deal with the perennial bugbear of parochialism and insularity, there doesn't seem to be a way out anywhere in the reasonably distant future, especially when people of influence, who should certainly know better, carry on as if they are involved in a popularity contest.

Chetram Singh's comments earlier in the week on Bennett King, the head coach, must be taken in that context, as anyone with any appreciation of Singh's prominent position in the administration of West Indies cricket would be completely baffled by the nature of his reported remarks.

Interviewed on television in his native Guyana, Singh, raising the issue of salaries for King and the other three Australians in the technical staff, stated: "The question is whether we could afford the million dollars now per annum without seeing some value for it and that's where the Guyana Board is calling for an evaluation of their performance."

But wasn't Singh a member of the WICB executive when the decision was made on the appointment of King to succeed Gus Logie after the triumphant Champions' Trophy campaign in September, 2004? Wasn't that more than two years after Wes Hall, the previous Board president, had publicly lamented the parlous financial state of West Indies cricket, raising eyebrows at a media conference at Sabina Park in Kingston when he spoke of debt expected to spiral towards US$18 million?

In calling for an assessment of the coaching staff, Singh added: "The coach, Bennett King, has been given too much power in our opinion, as a coach, and so some of the decisions taken inside the pavilion, the captain is now just simply carrying out those instructions and we feel that those powers, also, are too much for the coach when the captain goes outside."

Fair enough, but who gave King those sweeping powers, not the WICB executive, of which Singh is a member? When he refers to "our" and "we" in that last sentence, does it mean that when he wears the cap of the GCB president, any association with the regional administration is instantly obliterated from memory?

Or is this an admission, as some have surmised, that several at the top level of administration don't really know what's going on and are seen as just a collective rubber stamp by the handful of power-brokers? Even if you try to impart more spin than Muttiah Muralitharan on this one, you still can't avoid the suspicion that Singh's expressed concerns are merely pandering to the home audience he was speaking to directly, mindful as he would undoubtedly be that his fellow countryman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is under fire as West Indies captain.

Of course, there is nothing new about regional representatives suffering from split personalities, embracing collective responsibility at West Indies level before running home to sing a different song to their local constituents. But that Singh should not recognise the incredibly obvious contradictions of his comments only heightens concerns for the proper administration of the game and eventually finding a way out of this mess.

None of this is intended to take the heat off King. You would think that periodic assessment of any head coach during his tenure would be routine and not have to be precipitated by an official's public call for an investigation. Indeed, the Queenslander has a lot to answer for, not least some bewildering tactics during the tour of Australia last November, the worst of which saw three of the four fast bowlers selected for the first Test being rested from the only warm-up match that preceded it.

But in the 15 months that he has been in charge of the senior regional team, maybe King has already seen enough of the regular bickering and in-fighting that characterises West Indies cricket-not to mention a debilitating sponsorship dispute that is still short of a complete resolution-to be too bothered with calls for his head.

If Chetram Singh can play a game of himself criticising himself and not even realise it in his apparent haste to rally around the homeboy skipper, then King and company really have nothing to worry about.