The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated West Indies tour to South Africa is in the balance, and only God knows if it will take place.
The show, however, should go on - even if it means sending an entirely different squad to South Africa. And if it comes to that, it would not be the first time.
Following the walkout of the Packer players during the series against Australia in 1978, the West Indies sent a team minus them to India for the 1978-79 series, and although the team, led by Alvin Kallicharran, lost the six-match contest 0-1, the players gave a good account of themselves against the best of India, they were wonderful ambassadors of the Caribbean people, and they were watched by huge crowds.
It should also be remembered that apart from fine performances by Kallicharran - 187 in Bombay, 71 in Bangalore, 55 and 46 in Calcutta, 98 in Madras, and 45 not out in Delhi, Larry Gomes - 63 in Bombay, 51 and 82 in Bangalore, and 91 in Madras, Basil Williams - 111 in Calcutta, and Faoud Bacchus - 96 in Bangalore, 61 in Delhi, and 250 in Kanpur, apart from the hostile bowling of Sylvester Clarke, that tour was the launching pad of Malcolm Marshall who became one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.
Without that opportunity, after only one firstclass match and at only age 20, Marshall may never have blossomed; and who to tell, what, with such an opportunity, one like Reon King could become.
That, however, is not important. What is important is that the show goes on, and that Brian Lara and Carl Hooper, and whoever else are involved in sticking up the West Indies Board are not allowed to get away with the satisfaction of a cancelled tour.
The Board has its short-comings, no question about that. That, however, does not give players the right to do as they please. There can be no excuse for anyone to do anything to embarrass West Indies cricket, and what Lara and Hooper have done is embarrassing to West Indies cricket.
This was to be the tour of tours - the tour which black South Africans have been waiting on all their lives, the tour which West Indians have been waiting on since the fall of Apartheid, and the tour which Nelson Mandela, the hero to West Indians and black people around the world, the President of South Africa, must have spent his time dreaming about during his 26 years in Robben Island.
Mandela, like all black South Africans must be wondering what kind of people are West Indians - and all because of Lara, Hooper and company.
In 1983, when Mandela was locked away, when black South Africans were begging them to stay away, a West Indies rebel team which, apparently, cared more about money than anything else, went and played in South Africa; and now in 1998, when Mandela is free, in charge and waiting to welcome them, when the black South Africans in townshsips like Soweto and Alexandra are waiting to serenade their heroes of so many decades, the West Indies team, because of a quarrel over money, is threatening to stay away and thus spoil what promised to have been a lovely occasion.
The show must go on, and even if it is not the same, like India 20 years ago it can still be good.
If the show goes on, Lara and Hooper will not be there - and quite rightly so. The others, however, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and company, could still be there, and hopefully, even for Mandela's sake, they will be.