New Zealand Cricket chief executive Scott Weenink asserts he has no concerns for the health of the international game, despite South Africa's decision to send a weakened side to face the Blackcaps in February.
On Sunday, as was widely expected, South Africa named a severely weakened side to head to Aotearoa at the start of next year, and face the Blackcaps in two tests.
That depletion comes as Cricket South Africa opts to prioritise its local Twenty20 competition, the SA20, with their star players contractually bound to put their franchises before test cricket.
The issue is symptomatic of a wider problem that the international game will have to navigate its way through, as cricket moves further towards a club v country split.
All six teams in South Africa's domestic league are owned by Indian Premier League franchises, as the world's most high-profile Twenty20 competition's footprint on the global game becomes more and more apparent.
Aside from South Africa, Indian teams also own the entirety of the UAE-based ILT20 competition and the majority of the USA's Major League Cricket.
Already seen by nations like the West Indies, who are rarely able to field their strongest side, there is a very real risk South Africa fall into a similar position, with test cricket becoming less viable financially for nations outside of India, Australia and England.
New Zealand is far from exempt from these challenges as well.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the end of the Kiwi summer has seen heavily depleted Blackcaps sides take the field, with the core of New Zealand's best players afforded time away from the national set-up for their own Indian Premier League commitments.
After only being named chief executive at the end of August, the South Africa situation is just the first of what could ultimately be many situations where franchises interfere with the international game.
The Blackcaps have been without Trent Boult for the majority of the last two years, after he opted out of a central contract to be a T20 freelancer, while Martin Guptill and Colin de Grandhomme retired from internationals altogether to do the same.
For Weenink, though, finding the balance between club and country is the outstanding priority for the game's powerbrokers as the game moves towards its new status quo.
"I've only attended one ICC meeting so far," he told Newshub. "One of the key topics was looking at bilateral international cricket and trying to ensure it stays relevant and popular with players, fans and broadcasters.
"There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes on that. That will continue to be done.
"International cricket will retain its relevance, I don't have any doubt about that.
"But we need to be cognizant that these T20 leagues are a new phenomenon. They are meaning cricket is the fastest-growing game, globally. We need to support that as well.
"It's about working with the T20 leagues to make sure cricket can have both."
While the Blackcaps have never beaten South Africa in a test series, that record is almost certain to fall when the Proteas arrive.
All up, only seven of the 14 players named to travel have played a test match. Those seven players who have played test cricket before have accrued just 50 caps at the highest level.
For context, captain Tim Southee and batter Kane Williamson have each played 96 tests.
The selection also flies in the face of the World Test Championship, now in its third cycle and created to add context to the longest format.
At their best, South Africa are still contenders in test cricket, evidenced by an innings victory over world No.1 India in their Boxing Day test this week.
But in a landscape where money will ultimately see how players skew their priorities, Cricket South Africa realistically have no choice but to shore up their own competition with their best players.
New Zealand Cricket did look to re-work the series to ensure no disruption for their opposition, but given the congested nature of the global calendar, were ultimately unsuccessful.
Despite that, Weenink assures the problem is down to scheduling, rather than South Africa's commitment to the international game.
"South African cricket is genuinely disappointed that there has been this conflict in timing," he added. "I know their players are too.
"I know that their first-choice team were all very keen to come down. This was all simply an error in timing.
"There was definitely going to be pressure on bilateral cricket from T20 leagues popping up around the place. That's something that the ICC and member nations are going to have to continue to work through."
