The reasons for one-day international cricket's declining popularity have never been more evident than in the dreary five-match series just completed between Australia and the West Indies.
International cricket, beyond the top four countries in the world, is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get, and that makes Cricket Australia's job of planning an entertaining summer of sport for viewers an impossible, thankless job.
What is certain is that, after an absorbing three-Test series against South Africa, and a far less intriguing three-Test series against Sri Lanka followed by five ODIs and two T20s, enough was enough.
The West Indies' decline in recent years has been sharp, but there were signs in last March's five-match series in the Caribbean that things were starting to turn around.
That contest finished 2-2, including that sensational tie in Kingstown, and most indicators pointed toward these five matches being competitive at the very least.
But clearly plane travel amounts to kryptonite for the Windies, because - although they made small improvements in each match following their dreadful capitulation in Perth - they were never really in the hunt.
Should we have expected any better from a country that was beaten 3-2 by Bangladesh in December?
With 50-over cricket roundly acknowledged as being on life support, the format needed better than Australia struggling to a draw with Sri Lanka and the Windies' meek performance against the hosts.
Why no ODIs against the Proteas? Cricket South Africa's scheduling demands have a lot to do with it, but the game's administrators must do better - they owe it to the fans who stump up their money to go to the ground, and they owe it to Channel Nine, who have invested so much in the game, to give their viewers a palatable product.
One-day cricket has provided us with some wonderful memories of the game.
Who could forget the tied World Cup semi-final at Edgbaston in 1999, and Alan Donald's failure to run, or Andy Bichel's seven-wicket haul four years later?
What about the batting brilliance of Romesh Kaluwitharana and Lance Klusener?
These are cricketing moments that are etched into Australian sporting consciousness, and there were no gems to join them from the dull, forgettable series just concluded.