West Indies Domestic: Busted - no matter who wins

Does it really matter who wins this year's Busta Cup, supposedly the symbol of cricket supremacy in the Caribbean'

Sadly, the Busta Cup has confirmed what we all know: the standard of Caribbean cricket is moderate to poor.

Imagine that Barbados and the Leewards, the two most successful teams of the last decade, are in the first of two semifinals and after three days on what cricket analyst Franklyn Stephenson has described as 'a good cricket pitch', only two batsmen have made fifties.

Barbados topped the preliminaries with 48 points without ever totalling 300. That alone is an indictment on the quality, or rather lack thereof, in the Busta Cup.

So after five rounds of competition, we are left with more questions than answers.

Sure, the team that wins has to be given some credit but at this critical juncture of our cricket, it is more important to identify what we are producing, and ,sadly, that is very little.

The established players have not looked the part and the possible contenders have failed to grab the opportunity. Young batsmen are not building innings and the fast bowlers, with few exceptions, are struggling to maintain a decent line.

The Leewards' 21-year-old right-hander Runako Morton has caught the eye with a hundred against Jamaica and three half-centuries off Barbados, but he is the only relatively new face who has made waves.

It is a worrying thought with the Zimbabweans headed here next month. The Flowers brothers, Andy and Grant, Heath Streak and rising all-rounder Neil Johnson are bound to give us a stern examination and maybe some surprises.