In an admission of the helplessness of his situation, Jagmohan Dalmiya has asked the International Cricket Council to talk directly to the Indian cricketers in an effort to find some solution to the dispute that has cast such a long shadow over the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. In a letter to the man who replaced him as ICC chief, Malcolm Speed, Dalmiya laid bare the BCCI's position. "We do not have any negotiating power. So it is the best option that the ICC speaks directly to the players who are currently in England." An ICC spokesman confirmed that Speed would meet the team: "The situation is that the BCCI have written to us and asked if Malcolm Speed could meet with the players directly. He will do so later this afternoon."

The players' intransigence has dismayed Dalmiya, who said, "We could not settle the issue because we cannot offer anything to the players as it is the ICC contract and secondly, because players are insisting on speaking through their representative instead of talking directly to the board." The tournament commences on 12 September and Dalmiya's suggestion, if taken seriously by the ICC, could be the last chance to prevent an Indian team shorn of its stars - the worst case scenario for fans and sponsors alike - taking the field in Colombo.

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