WELL, the cricket season is in full flow, we've had league and cup games, National Knockout fixtures, junior cricket and representative games – and we are only a few weeks in.

Unfortunately, with every positive there comes a negative, in this case a recent discussion on social media regarding the drop in standard of local league cricket.

It is a controversial subject and I can only comment on my relatively short first-team career of 16 years.

This may seem a long time, but there are many cricketers still playing who have pads and gloves older than that.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the standard of first-team cricket has dropped since I started in 2000, so I don't know what the older players in the league must think.

The quality of bowling is the main contributing factor. Bowlers such as Faisal Akbar, Mel Whittle, Dave and John Smith, Ian Taylor, David White, Iqbal Sikander, Otis Gibson, Vasbert Drakes, Rod Estwick and Shahid Mahboob, to name a few, are simply not around anymore.

Six of the players I’ve mentioned were overseas players, which brings me to my next point.

The removal of overseas amateurs.

The amount of fantastic overseas players who have graced the Bolton League is simply astounding.

Some of these so-called amateurs were arguably as good if not better than some of the professionals.

The introduction of the Indian Premier League, T20 format matches and various other international tournaments during our season make it extremely difficult to capture the services of these sought-after players.

It is even harder to actually get them into the UK.

More importantly, the amount of money these guys can earn in short format tournaments makes a summer in the UK look very unappealing.

So what can be done to bring back the so-called glory days of league cricket?

A very difficult question to answer but I think the re-introduction of overseas amateurs would certainly increase the amount of quality for each and every club.

The newly-formed Greater Manchester Cricket League has professionals and overseas amateurs in many of the teams.

The impact this has on standards of play can only be measured in time and a lot of people will watch developments in the GMCL closely.

I think the issue runs much deeper than that, with the quality of coaching for kids at 6-11 years old is, and has been for quite some time, very poor.

Investment from the governing bodies into grassroots cricket – and other sports – is also quite poor, and this must have a knock-on effect for future generations.

Maybe this is what we are experiencing now?

Too much emphasis is put on mass participation and the actual amount of kids at any one club's junior coaching night.

We are currently seeing this first hand with some of our local clubs struggling to field teams in certain age groups while others have hundreds of kids to cherry-pick from.

Junior cricketers gaining the benefit of solid basics at a very early age seems to be the way forward.

Clubs such as Horwich, Heaton and Farnworth Social Circle historically epitomise this ethos.