Cricket's world Test championship has been shelved - until 2017 at least - and the proverbial climbdown represents another humiliating defeat for the ICC.
World cricket's governing body is still reeling from the barrage of criticism it received following the spot-fixing scandal, with its image and reputation at a new low and Andrew Strauss describing the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit as a "toothless tiger".
Chief executive Haroon Lorgat cuts a fairly beleaguered figure. There are constant accusations of deference to the BCCI, feelings of abandonment from associate nations and frustrations at the increasingly chaotic international schedule.
The idea of a world Test championship was roundly derided from its conception, with apparent gaping flaws in the proposal leaving the impression that such a contrived concept had emanated from nothing more than sheer desperation.
But perhaps the most fundamental problem the ICC has - with this and so much else - is the void of communication it has with the wider cricketing public.
Many feel as though the ICC has no dialogue with the very people it relies upon to keep the game running - the fans.
If such scant regard is shown towards supporters of the game the organisation is supposed to protect and nurture, how can it expect support and cooperation with embryonic ideas and half-baked proposals?
A rather sheepish Lorgat announced: "I am afraid that is no longer going to happen in 2013. At the last board meeting we decided the first opportunity to play the Test championship is 2017.
"I am disappointed it is not going to take place sooner but it is a reality of the commitments we have already got through to 2015. We attempted to switch the (scheduled one-day) Champions Trophy to become a Test championship but that is not going to be possible."
The commitments in question include a contract with broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports through to the end of the one-day World Cup in 2015, in addition to contracts with sponsors. When those contracts were agreed, they were based on a one-day cricket event taking place in 2013. That will now be the Champions Trophy.
Cowers cannot muster any sympathy towards the ICC as it finds itself hamstrung by the commitments it bound the game to.
The players, administrators and indeed fans all find themselves tied to a schedule dictated by broadcasters and media corporations, and it does not leave a sweet taste in the mouth. No wonder so many ICC competitions appear to be devoid of any true passion or enthusiasm.
Broadcasters and sponsors see more potential for recouping the money spent on their ICC contracts through a global limited-overs tournament rather than a series of five-day matches with the game's biggest revenue-generator, India, not guaranteed to qualify for what was to be a four-team Test tournament.
Michael Vaughan is not the only cricket pundit to have received a stinging backlash from India supporters for suggesting that a Test championship cannot take place out of the country for fear that their victory - or even participation - would not be assured.
"We attempted to form the world Test championship which I think would have been a very good context in ensuring the primacy of Test cricket but again we will have to wait for 2017 to see that as a reality," added Mr Lorgat.
Cowers believes that the identity of Test cricket was established when the game's greatest and truest format was conceived, and Lorgat is no more permitted or entitled to tinker with the way it is played than anyone else.
The idea of a Test championship was fundamentally flawed and undermined by the complete lack of clarity or inspiration as to how such a tournament would be decided.
One aspect of the game's longest format which many cannot understand is how a Test match can be allowed to end as draw, and such a result would render the World Test championship utterly irrelevant.
The fact is that Test cricket cannot and should not masquerade as something it is not. A condensed, winner-takes-all championship is no more befitting of the Test match format as wearing whites and having four slips is befitting of Twenty20 cricket.
Never has the game felt so fragmented, with three formats appearing to be at loggerheads with desperate, radical changes being heralded for the longest-cherished and established format.
What is required is a strong and forthright governing body to listen to the public and not pander to the powerful at the expense of the weak. Miracles do happen.