John Howard's rejected nomination for the most important job in world cricket highlights the tunnel vision portrayed by New Zealand and Australian cricketing officials.
Six of the 10 Test-playing nations – the West Indies, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh – signed a letter opposing the former Australian Prime Minsters ICC vice-president candidacy this week.
Zimbabwe also opposed to the move - but did not sign.
Their decisions left England, Australia and New Zealand hung out to dry. They were the only nations who perceived Howard as having sufficient credentials for shaping the future of the game.
The embarrassing, shambolic situation has been described as an 'insult' by Cricket Australia chairman Jack Clarke, while his counterpart Alan Isaac told Sportal he was 'very disappointed because they [the opposition countries] didn't give us any answers and that is frustrating'.
Isaac was not surprised by the decision however, saying the rejection had been a 'possibility for some time'.
The travesty is the fact the best candidate - and New Zealand's preferred option – Sir John Anderson was overlooked by a sub-committee comprising of three Australians and two Kiwis.
Add to this Howard's strained relationship with Asian cricketing countries after he called Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan a 'chucker' in 2004 and lashed out at India while it was touring Australia in 2007 and it's not hard to work out there was a simple solution to this from Day 1 – pick the right man for the job.
Anderson is a respected businessman and was the top dog of NZC for 13 years – Howard is a mere self-proclaimed 'cricket tragic'.
Where is the comparison?
Now, with egg on their face, the trans-Tasman neighbours have the arduous task of re-asking Anderson to be the next cab of the rank after he was snubbed first time around.
Will he still want the position and could you blame him if he said, 'thanks but no thanks'?
Alternatively, another nomination will be made, but who if Howard was Australia's best option?
After all, they're calling all the shots as New Zealand's minority views are swept under the carpet.
It took three months of painful discussions to select Howard, so the August 31 deadline could well be pushed back as the squabbles continue.