After two years of little or no major concerns, the injury bug that bit our senior West Indies team a few years ago has regrettably returned.

We recall that on the team's previous trip to southern Africa, Zimbabwe in particular, there were several injuries that forced some players out and replacements in.

Injury set-backs have again begun to plague the team with three players upon whom many hopes had been pinned - namely, Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels and Omari Banks - all being repatriated to the Caribbean.

This would of course be disappointing to those players, their teammates and cricket fans. It is also of grave concern to the West Indies Cricket Board, particularly in view of the measures taken over the last two years to ensure that injuries are minimised.

Large sums of money had been spent on remedial work to ensure that injured players get the best medical attention and physical therapy that the world has to offer with a view to achieving long-term recovery.

On leaving the West Indies team for an off-period, all players had been given fitness and conditioning progammes to follow which were designed by our experts in this field.

We, however, recognised that this was not the ideal arrangement and hence, the Board is hoping to soon get approval from the West Indies Players' Association for the proposed retainer-contract system.

Having a core of players who are contracted to the WICB on year-round retainer would, among other things, allow us to monitor their fitness and conditioning regime, as well as their nutrition far more effectively.

Another measure taken was the appointment of a full-time physiotherapist for this tour of southern Africa, who from all reports has been doing an excellent job.

Last September, the WICB also took the decision to beef up the medical panel to four "round-the-clock" professionals to make sure that consultations could be made at a moment's notice to put us in a better position to manage our injuries. Drs. Akshai Mansingh, Llewellyn Harper and Sam Headley along with physiotherapist Jacqui King- Mowatt, now comprise the medical panel.

There has been very little time for this panel to make a significant impact and help to change the fitness culture of the team. However, we are satisfied with the work they have completed so far and look forward to them making a bigger contribution in the future.

What they and, indeed, the WICB have resolved to do is return to the drawing board and discover the root causes of this latest spate of injuries. We are not willing to dismiss this as a freak of nature - that three of our most promising players are felled by injury at the same time.

At least, in the case of Samuels, best medical opinion had indicated his knee might buckle at any time and we hope to provide the best professional care that will correct his problem and allow him to carry on with his international career at the earliest opportunity.

Taylor's and Banks' injuries are surprising, but we will have to dig deeper to find the root of the problem. Is it a matter of lifestyles, training or training methods, nutrition, bowling styles, volume of bowling? Or a combination of some or all? We do not have all the answers right now, but rest assured that we will work assiduously to find them.

In spite of the demanding tour and domestic schedule, it is also the Board's desire to allocate more time wherever possible for the players to prepare as a team before a tour.

For the time being we are monitoring the situation and we will continue to let our medical panel advise the team's management on how to proceed with little or no incident.

The team will have to show great resolve and re-invent itself in the series against South Africa to make up for the absence of the missing players.

It has been a setback but it is not one that they cannot overcome. Other teams are facing it and are coping; so shall we.