On this day, 44 years ago, it was leaked that top 35 cricketers had signed up for the World Series Cricket (WSC) by Kerry Packer.
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On this day, 44 years ago, an epoch-making revelation in cricket had occurred as Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket came into existence. Top 35 cricketers from leading national teams signed up for the revolutionary series that would break the cricketing world into two. The signings were already done, they had begun much before the world was finally aware of the rebel that was being formed.
It was May 1977, and Australia and England were well in preparation for the Ashes- cricket’s greatest rivalry. The news which took the cricketing world by storm was that 13 players from the Ashes-bound Australian squad had been signed up for the World Series.
Kerry Packer, an Australian businessman, had the vision to change how the world sees the game of cricket through his own televised ‘World Series. Among the 35 cricketers who signed, Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd and Tony Greig were then seen as mercenaries who would lead an army of renegades. Australian media, in its backlash towards the entire new setup that was budding with contracts being secretly signed to top names in world cricket, had named it as Packer’s circus.
A little rewind from the day the leak happened, a strong-headed and ambitious businessman was not taking no for an answer from the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). However, the ACB had denied Channel 9 the rights to exclusively televise Australian cricket’s Test matches in 1976.
The rebel armies played white-ball cricket with helmets on and under the lights to change the game forever. Despite all the backlash, the WSC set a trend of power-hitting batsmen, incredible pace in bowling, cricketers in coloured clothes driving a sensation, that’s not just generational but one for the ages.
The then England captain Tony Greig, who was one of the mercenaries who led his own outlaw army, in the Sun Herald, had said: The competition in WSC is so intense, teams can no longer afford to allow the opposition tailenders to hang around. Consequently, the pace bowlers are dishing out an unprecedented amount of bouncers to the ‘rabbits’. So it is pleasing to see that cricketers like Dennis Lillee and Garth le Roux have got the message, swallowed their pride, and are wearing helmets.
