West Indians supporters have become so accustomed to disappointments on the cricket field that it now seems as though we are in the midst of a highly successful international cricket season.

Our cricket team led by Chris Gayle shared the honours in the two-match Test series with Sri Lanka and then outplayed the Sri Lankans in the limited overs form of the game. It was an achievement not to be taken lightly considering that just a year ago the Sri Lankans finished second to the Australians in the 2007 ICC Cricket Word Cup. The fact that this time around the tourists were without a few of the players who have served them well over the years should not devalue our achievement.

Now our youth cricketers have given us more reason to celebrate and they deserve heartiest congratulations after winning the Clico International under-15 competition with an emphatic victory in the final against Pakistan in Trinidad last week. It was a performance we all should be proud of unless of course there are detractors willing to identify key players missing from the Pakistan camp.

There have been two editions of this international under-15 competition the previous one being held back in 2000 in England when the West Indies also emerged as champions with a victory in the finals over Pakistan. Xavier Marshall, Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons and Ravi Rampaul were members of that successful team eight years ago. Alastair Cook was among those who represented England in the same tournament.

The success at junior level seems to make rubbish of the theory that there is a shortage of cricket talent in the Caribbean. An alternative assumption is that though there is talent we have not found effective ways to manage and develop the potential that is available. This presents a challenge for our administrators, one that they should aggressively tackle. There is hardly a better time to move forward with our junior cricket than now that there is the feeling of success in the atmosphere at junior and senior level.

The Barbadian opener Kraigg Brathwaite has been identified as one of the success stores of the youth championship. West Indies has had its fair share of young stars in the past and too many have faded into oblivion. It is not too soon for the authorities to include Brathwaite and several of the other outstanding players from the tournament in a special training squad. There they should be exposed to training designed to develop the type of professionalism that has been sadly lacking in our cricketers for over a decade.

We have more than adequate human resources in cricket to form our training pool. The foreign expertise may even be better utilized at junior level rather than the current focus on senior players who are already set in their ways. Of course it will be the responsibility of the management of the training programme to find meaningful competition for the youngsters.

The fact that our cricketers are located in various islands around the region presents a special challenge but it is not an insurmountable problem. It could become the catalyst for a regional sports school to cater to the needs of athletes in a select number of sporting disciplines. Such a co-operative venture would be timely given the current focus on initiatives such as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The sports school should be designed to target athletes at the secondary level of education. It will provide the same opportunities for academic achievement as the leading secondary institutions throughout the region while at the same time providing the expert coaching and life skills training necessary to better prepare our athletes for the international arena.