WSC West Indies cricket team in Australia in 1977–78
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In late 1977, the new World Series Cricket competition began in Australia between three teams playing both multi-day and one day games. The first set of these fixtures to be played was a three match series between the Australian team and the
West Indies team West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
, starting at the beginning of December.


Background

Since 1976,
Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...
, the owner of the
Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
, had sought the rights to broadcast live coverage of Australia's home test matches, and had found himself rebuffed by the Australian Cricket Board in favour of continued live coverage on the Australian Broadcasting Company, which was the country's state broadcaster. Following Nine's winning of the rights to broadcast the 1977 Ashes tour to England, in which Packer was presented with the idea of staging some televised exhibition matches, he fleshed it out into the idea of a full blown series of games between the best Australian players, and the best players from the rest of the world. In 1977, Packer began signing contracts with Australian players recommended by former Australia captain Ian Chappell, while he was also able to negotiate a deal with then England captain
Tony Greig Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder w ...
for him to act as Packer's agent in signing non-Australian players.''Wisden Cricketer'' magazine.
Accessed 28 July 2007. Among these non-Australians were a significant number of players from the West Indies, who found the contracts they were being offered would pay them potentially more than they could earn in their entire careers. As a consequence, although only intended to feature Australia against the Rest of the World, the organisers were able to form a third team, made up wholly of West Indian players. The first match was scheduled as a five-day game between the Australian XI and the West Indies XI from 2 December 1977; Packer was unable to use the term " Test Match", so the fixture was the first of what came to be known as "Supertests". This game, held at VFL Park in Melbourne, began on the same day as the first day of the official Australian team's Test Match against India in Brisbane.


Supertests

Because the MCC holds the copyright to the Laws of Cricket, Packer was therefore prevented from using them, he recruited former Australia captain Richie Benaud to formulate the rules and conditions for the new competition, which led to each
over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England * Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England ** Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pe ...
consisting of 8 balls.


First Supertest


Second Supertest


Third Supertest


References

* Haigh, Gideon (1993): ''The Cricket War – the Inside Story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket'', Text Publishing. . * Lillee, Dennis (2003): ''Menace: The Autobiography'', Headline. . {{DEFAULTSORT:WSC West Indies cricket team in Australia in 1977-78 1977 in Australian cricket 1977 in West Indian cricket 1977–78 Australian cricket season 1978 in Australian cricket 1978 in West Indian cricket International cricket competitions from 1975–76 to 1980 West Indian cricket tours of Australia World Series Cricket