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It's time for reflection at the end of a long West Indies cricket season.

It might not have ended on the winning note we were hoping for but I believe most pundits would have been happy with the progress made in this age of continued transition.

Several places I've gone I've heard the comment that team and fighting spirit seemed to have returned to the team's make up. And judging from the way they played against India, in particular, I think that is a fair comment.

That they lost the Test series to New Zealand might not be any indication that the same thing didn't apply but we might want to be gracious in conceding that the Kiwis were a lot more disciplined than their counterparts.

Men tired

Captain Carl Hooper, of course, complained that his men were tired and I believe that they might have gone into the series with a particular mindset which may not have been conducive to carrying the fight to opponents who are rated No. 3 in the world.

The New Zealanders are not flashy and certainly would not entice large crowds to watch them play but they have developed a work ethic that has made them efficient enough to compete against most of the world's Test teams.

It's difficult at times to come to terms with a professional team's submission of using fatigue as a valid excuse for under achieving but to be objective we have to take their workload into consideration; they are, after all, still only human, their physical well-being has to be taken into account.

This brings us to the question of setting out the kind of schedule which does not put players at a huge disadvantage. All things being equal, this has been one of the longest West Indies seasons in history and given the players' previous assignments, they could find some sympathy among those with open minds.

In cases like these, the onus must be on the West Indies Cricket Board to work out a plan that would keep the key players fresh. For instance, do the top players need to make themselves available for all the Busta Cup matches? In the overall context there were some positives for the team.

For instance, I believe it is true to say that we have developed a fairly stable and dependable middle order; it's only a case now of getting the lower to make a greater contribution especially when the team is in a tight spot.

As far as the bowling is concerned, I believe most people would be happy with the apparent improvement of Merv Dillon and Pedro Collins in particular.

Every successful winning team in the history of the game had at least two bowlers regarded as match winners. If these two have not quite yet established themselves as such, I think we saw the potential for them to be in the future.

Their improvement mirrors what was generally a satisfactory home season for the West Indies.

© The Barbados Nation