In 1977, Channel 9 owner Kerry Packer signed up 66 of the world’s best cricketers – many of them in the prime of their careers like Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Tony Greig, Clive Lloyd – to play in a series televised exclusively on the Nine Network called World Series Cricket.
It upset many in the traditional game, those who loved the forms of the game like Tests and the Sheffield Shield.
Now, more than 30 years later, the game has changed again, thanks to the Big Bash League.
And, this time, unlike WSC, it has the backing of the official custodians of the game, Cricket Australia.
WSC broke the shackles and introduced cricket to a new generation of fans. CA are hoping to do the same with the BBL, most notably in the 10-15 age group.
As mentioned above, WSC was televised on the Nine Network. However, the BBL is on a pay-TV channel, Fox Sports.
WSC had only three teams in the Supertests/ODI series: WSC Australia, the West Indies and the World. In contrast, the BBL has 8 teams, among them the Melbourne Stars, Hobart Hurricanes. Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.
In the first year of WSC, the grounds were: VFL Park (Melbourne) Gloucester Park (Perth), Sydney Showgrounds (Sydney) and Football Park (now AAMI Stadium-Adelaide).
Compare this to the BBL, which has: ie Melbourne Stars (MCG), Melbourne Renegades (Etihad Stadium), Perth Scorchers (WACA) , Brisbane Heat (Gabba).
What will be most interesting will be the financial costs.
WSC lost an estimated $6 million on the first season. The BBL won’t be that worse off because a) the series has been an enormous success and b) it has the financial support and backing of CA and Fox Sports.
The key to the long-term success of the BBL will be season two of the BBL.
If cricket supporters can continue to support the BBL, as much as it did in season two of WSC, where for example 50,000 turned up on November 28, 1978 to see the lights switched on for the match between Australia and the West Indies, then the future for the BBL is assured.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but nobody knows if he…
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Mitch Marsh has been appointed as Australia's men's Twenty20 captain, set to lead a squad to the World Cup that does not include Steve…
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
If people can lose their job, and clubs can face massive payouts, due to the behaviour of coaches, it will drastically change the way sporting teams in Australia will be run.
Australian fast bowling great Jason Gillespie has been named head coach of Pakistan's Test team, as the nation overhauls its coaching department ahead of…
