Zimbabwe Cricket has really had it now. The players relented from a similar position to give ZC a further three weeks until the end of the month to pay the large sums of money owed them. But they are now simply walking away.

It's vital that we try to keep cricket going in Zimbabwe, but these are professional sportsmen who have to make a living, I'm personally a bit upset that the ICC has not found the need to become involved by now.

A meeting was held to discuss some Zimbabwe Cricket ideas for making progress on negotiations. But they have dug their heels in and are all adamant there will be no talks until payments have been fully made.

At a time when most workers in the country are receiving their annual bonuses, the cricket players are still owed match fees from three months ago and they feel they have not been given adequate attention and time to address the issues.

We have reached the stage of an ultimatum - either the ICC or the Zimbabwe government has to step in.

Like in the Packer era, West Indies cricket at its very best has been undervalued and its players underpaid. Like Packer, Stanford is a visionary putting money where his mouth is.