It would mean that the rights holders do not get what was promised to them and clearly there must be a cost attached to that (as a disclaimer I must add that while I am on contract with ESPN Star Sports as a commentator I have no role to play in their business dealings with the ICC). If someone has to bear the loss, it can only be the ICC. It happens with all businesses. The price of oil goes up, the dollar fluctuates dramatically, somebody launches a new product!

But we cannot just talk any more, we cannot just jog to the finish line. When the asking rate gets to 20 an over, you know you are in a boring match. The ICC now needs to say “right, these are the cards we have been dealt with. Now, let’s make the best of it.” But they need to act now. And they cannot force cricket players, human beings, to do something they do not want to. We pay the price for the world we live in.