WE hear that numerous issues were identified as being among the source reasons for the painful decline of West Indies cricket — more especially over the last 30 years — during a recent two-day emergency meeting in Port-of-Spain.

We doubt that any of the identified issues were new, which is not to downplay the importance of that meeting convened by Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr Kishore Shallow.

However, it is absolutely imperative that those directly involved in cricket, as well as national leaders and others, not only talk about what needs to be done to revive the regional sport, but start to act on the talk.

To the extent that action actually flows from all the furious talking it would signal that there were plusses from a string of humiliations, including West Indies’ 27 all out at the hands of Australia in a Test match at Sabina Park in Kingston last month.

What must not happen is a slowdown in the sense of urgency because of the odd success such as the most recent One-Day International (ODI) series victory over visiting Pakistan.

The current desire for corrective action must not falter.

We all know that regional governments are mostly strapped for resources to deal with even those most essential needs such as the servicing of health and education. Yet, Caricom governments, including Jamaica’s, can’t simply drop their hands because money is short.

Determined innovativeness and creativity, including proactive embrace of the business sector, should come to the fore.

Lest we forget: Cricket, like wider sport — not least track and field — has helped significantly to frame our identity and branding as individual nations and as a region.

Crucially, sport in today’s world is among the fastest-growing service sectors, with cricket front and centre.

Doubters need only check its rapid growth in the United States of America (USA). It’s not by accident that the USA’s Under-19 cricket team recently surged unbeaten to the final of the West Indies Under-19 tournament before being stopped by Barbados.

There is much to be gained, nothing to lose, by ensuring that young cricketers in the Caribbean and Guyana get every opportunity to maximise their potential.

How is that to be done? It seems to us that it has to begin at the grass roots with reasonable cricket facilities; resources; and modern, informed coaching which embraces the extraordinary evolution of the glorious game of bat and ball over the last 20 years.

In batting, for example, that evolution has seen the embrace of unconventional varieties of the sweep shot, once frowned on but now increasingly accepted as tried and proven methods to dominate spin bowling. In other words, important though it remains, it’s no longer enough for coaches to merely insist that those they guide “play straight”.

Our recommendation to regional governments determined to help in the turnaround of cricket is to keep it simple and start small. Governments should strive first of all, in partnership with the private sector, to improve facilities and support systems in schools and clubs. Also, they should partner with CWI to improve coaching at the grass roots.

Thereafter, all our countries should consider loftier goals such as academy programmes which are essential for the long term but may not be immediately affordable.

Any journey always begins with the first step.