In sport, as in every other aspect of life, there must be proper, sustained planning and preparation if success is to be achieved.

The Zimbabwe cricket team are admirably advertising that basic principle on their current tour of the Caribbean.

Zimbabwe’s cricket has suffered serious damage in recent years as a result of quarrels and friction not unrelated to wider problems of poor political leadership, racial divisions and inequitable land ownership that have threatened the very fabric of that southern African nation.

A major fallout of the crisis in cricket was a mass walkout of some of the country’s leading players — mostly white — earlier in the decade. It led to Zimbabwe voluntarily withdrawing from Test cricket in 2006 while seeking to rebuild from the junior level and keeping in touch with the international game by way of the limited overs format.

Reports out of Zimbabwe suggest that the cricket authorities responded to the crisis by completely revamping their domestic game while building their junior programme with the help of a cricket academy. Several of those who walked away from Zimbabwe cricket are returning — as players and coaches.

The ambition now is to build on the gains so far and to return to Test match cricket as speedily as possible.

West Indians can be in no doubt that Zimbabwe are well on track. Their cricket so far on tour has been thoughtful, focused and disciplined. In the process they have put to shame their Caribbean hosts who have been shoddy and slack, at best.

The contrast was clear in Sunday’s Twenty-20 game at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Confronted by a dry, dusty pitch conducive to spin bowling, the visitors included several spinners in their team.

The hosts — clearly unaware of the situation in their own backyard — selected just one spinner in their playing 11, the left-arm orthodox Mr Sulieman Benn who proceeded to illustrate the nature of the pitch by taking four wickets for six runs from his four overs. Zimbabwe’s multiple spinners then overwhelmed the West Indies batting to give their team a comfortable victory.

Thursday’s 50-50 game may have gone down to the wire with the lowly rated visitors winning by just two runs, but again it was their focus and discipline that ultimately made the difference against a West Indies team that visibly choked when placed under pressure.

Of course, as we have often said in this space, the problems in West Indies cricket are not confined to the actual cricket. Rather, the inconsistent on-field performances are reflective of the disorder and inefficiency in the administrative offices of the West Indies Cricket Board itself.

We say again, as we have repeatedly said in the past, West Indies cricket won’t see sustained improvement until its administration is completely overhauled.

But in the meantime, there is cricket to be played. This current tour apart, there is an ICC World Twenty-20 tournament to be hosted next month, to be followed by a Test and one-day tour by the powerful South Africans. The West Indies selectors, the management/coaching team and the players need to get focused. They need to start planning, preparing and implementing properly. They need to take a leaf out of Zimbabwe’s book.