KEY POINTS:
You get the feeling that, if the England and Australian cricket board members decided to leap from their office rooftops this week, their New Zealand counterparts would need only a couple of meetings before opting to follow suit.
"Where they go, we go" seemed to be the message at the weekend, when NZ Cricket reportedly voted with its two "white" allies against a proposal to sack disgraced Australian umpire Darrell Hair.
Fortunately, common sense prevailed and seven other International Cricket Council nations stepped in to ensure the crackpot official was relieved of his responsibilities - but you still have to wonder about NZC.
How could they possibly try to protect Hair, a man with a track-record for causing major unrest, and who this year caused one of the biggest controversies in cricket history?
It's hard to think of another umpire who has so thoroughly cooked his own goose - he seldom stands in Sri Lankan games, he cannot go anywhere near Pakistan, India wouldn't have him at the Champions Trophy, and he refuses to travel to Zimbabwe.
Add to that umpiring neutrality rules which stop him standing in his native Australia, and it tallies up to a limited fixtures list.
There's also the concern over NZC's readiness to jump into bed with England and Australia when any of the Asian nations happen to agree over fairly much anything.
Forget the conspiracy theories over India and Pakistan for a moment. More worrying, surely, is the apparent confirmation of a colonial cabal between Australia, New Zealand and England - the idea of collusion on cultural grounds.
People are trying to claim the three "white" countries were overpowered by the Asian bloc on Saturday, but what does that suggest about the independence of the West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe?
These folk seem to have forgotten that, if the Axis of Anglos had been able to persuade the Windies and the two African nations to keep their Hair on, the vote would have been 6-4 in the umpire's favour.
At a time when the powerbase of international cricket has shifted dramatically towards the Indian sub-continent, NZC might have considered showing independence on this issue, and breaking away from its keepers.
Here was an opportunity for New Zealand to prove to the rest of the world that it was capable of thinking for itself and embracing the international game's brave new dawn.
But, predictably, the chance slipped through its fingers.
Talk about walking with the dinosaurs.
You have to wonder whether NZC will soon wake up to this climate change, or whether it will keep linking arms with Australia and England, and striding towards the boggy swamp.
This is easily the biggest and most far-reaching challenge facing the board, chairman John Anderson and chief executive Martin Snedden.
Rather than chumming up to their World War I cousins, they now need to be asking how they can better understand sub-continental culture, how they can develop some trust with non-white members, and how they can contribute towards a more harmonious environment.
Then again, they might simply believe that Hair was entitled to remain on the ICC's elite panel, possibly on the basis that he acted within the laws of the game and carried no malicious intent.
But if they did, that only raises further questions about their competence.
High
Two words: Carlos Powell. The Breakers' import followed up his strong performance against the Tigers last week with another barn-storming effort against Adelaide, scoring 34 points in his team's 99-90 win.
Low
Two more words: Why Sky? Manchester United continue their breathtaking form in the English Premiership with a 3-0 win over Portsmouth, but again, not so much as a glimpse from New Zealand's most overrated TV channel.
