The great Trinidadian philosopher and author CLR James famously asked: What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?

I am often reminded of the question when I tune in to the endless, mostly superficial debates on West Indies cricket. It tugged at me again recently when I heard grounds staff being castigated on radio for the generally inadequate pitches prepared for last month’s regional one-day tournament.

No question that the pitches were not the best. One game at Kensington Park between the Leeward Islands and the Sagicor High Performance Centre had to be stopped after six overs in bright sunshine to allow the groundsmen to resume work. In that case heavy rain the previous day had affected the preparation.

In a second more dramatic case at Sabina Park, there had to be a switch of pitch after three balls in a crucial game between Guyana and Leeward Islands because the playing surface was shelling out. I am assured by umpire Vivian Johnson, who stood in that game, that under the rules the switch was only possible because the two captains agreed.

That in itself is of interest, since as I understand it, eventual losers Guyana would have gone forward ahead of eventual joint-champions Leeward Islands had the game been abandoned.

Largely because of a sluggish pitch which also provided generous movement off the seam for all bowlers, the Sabina Park final which should have been a showpiece, was a slow, tedious affair saved only by the dramatics of the last couple of overs.

Batsmen had to think twice before playing the drive or any other attacking shot for that matter — which is definitely not what you want for limited overs cricket.

But it seems to me that we can’t just blame the groundsmen and leave it at that.

In the first place, accustomed and expected rainy weather in October means it is not a time to be playing high-level cricket in the Caribbean. We don’t have to think about it to recognise that wet weather of the type we have had in Jamaica over the last several weeks makes a cricket groundsman’s job several times more difficult.

For me, the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICB) needs to find a way to organise all regional competitions, including the limited overs’ versions in that period of relatively dry weather, between December and April. Guyana, of course, is a special case.

Also, it seems to me, cricket administrators in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean must recognise before they start throwing stones at groundsmen, that for the most part, they are giving them straw basket to carry water.

It can’t be acceptable that those who are asked to prepare the pitch which is the very foundation of a cricket match are for the most part untrained, uneducated, poorly equipped in terms of material and working tools and are asked to survive on minimum wages.

Those of us who rightfully complain about the poor quality of pitches in the Caribbean need to always bear in mind that nothing exists in isolation; all things are connected. The great game of bat and ball is affected by external forces, just like everything else.