IT's official. New Zealand cricket spectators are more important than Australian fans.
No other conclusion can be drawn after Cricket Australia approved a rest for exhausted and struggling batsman-wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.
He will miss Australia's next two one-day matches: against South Africa in Melbourne on Friday and Sri Lanka in Sydney on Sunday.
Sadly, the game's governing body in this country was not nearly so enlightened when the selectors requested that one of Australia's most important players be spared the three-match Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in New Zealand last month.
Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns had already told the brilliant playmaker he could go and spend a week with his wife and family after the West Indies Test series for a desperately needed rest during the busiest year of his career, which included a difficult Ashes campaign and a brilliant ICC Super Series in October.
However, in an appalling piece of man management, CA insisted that Gilchrist tour for the sake of a newly created and instantly forgotten one-day tournament.
So the tens of thousands of cricket fans in Melbourne and Sydney who have paid up to $50 a seat to watch Australia's finest go around can rightly feel short-changed.
If Gilchrist had been rested from the New Zealand frolic, as the selectors suggested for the long-term good of an ageing side heading into next year's World Cup, then the supporters at Telstra Dome and the SCG over the next week or so would have nothing to complain about.
The dashing left hander is 34. He is in the latter stages of a remarkable career and must be carefully nursed if he is to be at his best through next season's much anticipated Ashes contest and the World Cup which follows in the Caribbean.
It is difficult to see how defying the selectors and failing to show faith in such a strong and successful panel is doing the best by Australian cricket or its players.