Night games, the white ball and coloured clothing were all introduced 40 years ago this summer, as World Series Cricket changed the game forever.
If you were a kid growing up in Australia in the late 1970s, WSC made cricket the coolest sport around.
The rebel competition only lasted two years, but it attracted most of the world’s best players at the time and provided so many great memories. Here are some of mine.
Sitting on the dog track at the Gabba
The Gabba used to have a grass dog track surrounding the field and one-day WSC games were so popular that they let people sit on the track to fit as many as possible into the ground.
Sitting there, you were close enough to get an autograph of the great Dennis Lillee when he was at fine leg.
Seeing the start of a West Indies dynasty
The young West Indies were thumped 5-1 when they came to Australia for a 1975-76 Test series. Two years later, they emerged as a new powerhouse, with players like Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Michael Holding leading the way.
They dominated world cricket for the next 15 years.
David Hookes getting his jaw broken
The comp started in the pre-helmet era, and David Hookes had his jaw broken trying to hook a bouncer by Andy Roberts in a ‘Supertest’ at the Sydney Showground.
That quickly led to the development of the first crudely-made batting helmets, which looked more like they should have been worn by motorbike riders.
The chance to see the great South Africans of the era
Without WSC, Australian fans would never have seen South African greats like Barry Richards, Mike Proctor and Clive Rice play live. They were denied their chance to shine for most of their careers because of the international sporting boycott of South Africa during the Apartheid era.
Richie and Bill
This is when we first became familiar with the commentary and quirks of Richie Benaud and Bill Lawry. Tony Greig, Ian Chappell and Max Walker were still on the field back then.
The song
WSC used a catchy song to market the Australian team, I can still remember all the lyrics. It briefly topped the local charts at the time.
The Big Mac recipe
To get a free autographed poster of the teams, you had to recite the ingredients of a Big Mac at a McDonald’s counter within ten seconds. McDonald’s were still relatively new to Australia in the ’70s.
For some reason, I can still remember all those ingredients 40 years later, even though I don’t eat Big Macs (for the record, it was “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”).
JohnB
Guest
Just noting we had seen some of those great South Africans in the World XI games in 71/72 (and Barry Richards played a massively successful Shield season a year or 2 before that). A very minor snippet from the memory banks - while the standard of the TV coverage was an absolute revelation for the time (imagine it - a camera from EACH END! And other cameras too!), they didn't get it all right. At one point they had the genius idea of interviewing the batsman who'd just been dismissed just as he came off the field. Didn't last beyond Dennis Lillee storming past the interviewer without a word. Martin Kent's response to "how did that one get through the defences Martin?" of a deadpan "I missed it" still raises a smile.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Rellum, you are probably right. That is the problem with capitalism, it works well - to a point. Then the zeros on the end get too numerous and the game starts to lose its innocence. Capitalism isn't perfect, but it is the best system we've got. As for WSC, I was a youngster, but I still recall the Mojo singers, the life the West Indies breathed into the game, and the gentlemanly rivalry that seemed to be more prevalent than it is today. Maybe it is me hitting an age and becoming one of 'those' people, but I somehow liked the on and off field banter and the personalities from that era than the downright arrogant and aggressive nature of players like Glenn McGrath, Davis Warner and the like. Different eras.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I actually look back in hindsight and see WSC as thing that capitalism demanded and was probably good for the game in the short term. In the long term I think it has shaped the ACB then CA's thinking about how to manage issues in the game. They basically turn to restructuring and marketing to solve large problems now and that is to the determent of the game.
sheek
Guest
For me, & certainly for the leading cricketers at the time, WSC was the best thing to happen, despite the runctions it caused for a couple of years. The fight by the players to be better paid was absolutely right for the time. Players were being expected to play more tests & tour more often for not much more pay, but were becoming unemployable in an age when you still needed a weekly job. Just look at the teams. The Australians welcomed back Ian Chappell as captain, & Ian Redpath, Ross Edwards, Ashley Mallett & Graham McKenzie who had all retired recently. Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh, Dennis Lillee, Doug Walters & Max Walker had all indicated their intention to retire in their late 20s & early 30s before WSC gave them a financial lifeline. The West Indies welcomed back Roy Fredericks who had retired, while the World team gave South Africans Barry Richards, Mike Procter, Clive Rice & Garth le Roux an opportunity to showcase their talents against the best. My only regret is that it didn't go into a 3rd season, because I reckon by 1979/80, WSC would have finally nutted out a proper season schedule with the three teams playing a full three supertests against each other, with the top two progressing to a final. Furthermore, all three squads would have had as good as squads as they could muster. Australia for example, finally got Jeff Thomson in early 1979 & would have also poached the youngster Graeme Wood. Each squad would have had around 25 players, give or take a few, allowing them to not only play supertests & one-layers, but also a 2nds comp, keeping as many players as possible continually employed & engaged. But the ACB saw that the tide was turning, & appealed for peace. WSC was ahead of its time. Coloured clothing for the one-dayers & day-night tests all started with WSC. Possible/probable teams in 1979/80. Aus 1: Bruce Laird, Kepler Wessels, Ian Chappell (c), Greg Chappell, Martin Kent, David Hookes, Rod Marsh (k), Ray Bright, Dennis Lille, Jeff Thomson, Len Pascoe. Aus 2: Ian Redpath (c), Graeme Wood, Rick McCosker, Ross Edwards (vc), Robbie Langer, Doug Walters, Richie Robinson (k), Gary Gilmour, Kerry O'Keeffe, Max Walker, Mick Malone. Aus spare: Ian Davis, Trevor Chappell, Graeme Watson, Dennis Yagmich (k), Ashley Mallett, Graham McKenzie, Wayne Prior. Windies 1: Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Lawrence Rowe, Clive Lloyd (c), Collis King, Deryck Murray (k), Andy Roberts, Mike Holding, Joel Garner, Albert Padmore. Windies 2 (combined with World 2): Roy Fredericks, Richard Austin, Rohan Kanhai, Jim Allen, Bernard Julien, Wayne Daniel, Colin Croft, Lance Gibbs. World 1: Barry Richards (SA), Majid Khan (Pak), Zahler Abbas (Pak), Asif Iqbal (Pak -c), Tony Greig (Eng - c), Clive Rice (SA), Mike Procter (SA), Imran Khan (Pak), Alan Knott (Eng - k), Derek Underwood (Eng), Garth le Roux (SA). World 2 (combined with Windies 2): Eddie Barlow (SA), Dennis Amiss (Eng), Javed Miandad (Pak), Baron Rashid (Pakistan), Mustaq Mohammed (Pak), Bob Woolmer (Eng), Taslim Arif (Pak - k), Sarfraz Nawaz (Pak), John Snow (Eng). It's very likely WSC would have acquired more quality players for 1979/80, including a couple of key Kiwis such as Richard Hadlee & Glenn Turner. So a season schedule would have seen Australia, Windies & World play three tests against each other, plus the top two progressing to the final. That would mean each team plays six supertests, plus two finalists playing a seventh. For the 2nds, Australia & Windies/World might play five supertests against each other. For the one-dayers, Australia, Windies & World would play each other six times, with the two finalists having a best of three. This means each team would play 12 ODIs, plus the two finalists playing a max of 15 ODIs. For the 2nds, Australia Australia & Windies/World might play 10 times against each other. The public would have been treated to 10 (A) Supertests, 5 (B) Supertests, 21 (A) ODIs & 10 (B) ODIs. Leading players from each team could have expected to play 6-7 (A) supertests & 12-15 (A) ODIs. Back-up players from each team could have expected to play 5 (B) supertests & 10 (B) ODIs, excluding callups to the A teams.