World Series Cricket - 1977-78
World Series Cricket was a revolution that gave fans some of the fiercest, most competitive cricket of the 1970s. In its first season WSC consisted of six Supertests and more than a dozen one day games played at venues around Australia.
The best in the world came together (courtesy of the fat chequebook of an Australian media mogul) to battle it out on the field, while said chequebook and WSC owner, Kerry Packer, battled the establishment.
As Richie Benaud said in his introduction to "The First Exciting Year" annual: "The changes evolving from WSC ... were among the best and most challenging I have known in 30 years. The list is short but fascinating. It cover pitches, television coverage, night cricket and the use of the white ball."
While these are all the norm these days in 1977 they were a revolution.
Now with this new Series Set and the Minden Playing Card Cricket -5th Edition board game, you can replay every match from that exciting first summer -- Supertests, one day games and even the Country Cup, games played on a circuit of remote, regional grounds by those who had signed with Packer but weren't in the first XI of the three WSC teams.
This special Minden Cricket pack contains Advanced Cards for all players who took part in the Supertests (40 players) and the International Cup one day games (50 players), as well as Basic Ratings for these players plus Basic Ratings for every player who took part in the Country Cup (54 players). Each rating is based on the player's real life statistics.
Supertests
Australia: AA Mallett, BM Laird, DB Yagmich, DK Lillee, DW Hookes, GD McKenzie, GD Watson, GJ Gilmour, GS Chappell, IC Davis, IM Chappell, IR Redpath, KD Walters, KJ O'Keeffe, LS Pascoe, MF Kent, MF Malone, R Edwards, RB McCosker, RD Robinson, RJ Bright, RS Langer, RW Marsh, TM Chappell, W Prior
West Indies and World XI: AME Roberts, CG Greenidge, CH Lloyd, IVA Richards, J Garner, RC Fredericks, AL Padmore, BD Julien, CL King, DAJ Holford, DL Murray, JC Allen, LG Rowe, WW Daniel, APE Knott, Asif Iqbal, AW Greig, BA Richards, DL Amiss, DL Underwood, EJ Barlow, Imran Khan, JA Snow, MA Holding, Majid Khan, MJ Procter, Mushtaq Mohammad, RA Woolmer, Zaheer Abbas
International Cup - One Day Competition
Australia: BM Laird, DK Lillee, DW Hookes, GD McKenzie, GJ Gilmour, GS Chappell, IC Davis, IM Chappell, KD Walters, KJ O'Keeffe, LS Pascoe, MF Kent, MF Malone, MHN Walker, R Edwards, RB McCosker, RD Robinson, RJ Bright, RS Langer, RW Marsh, W Prior
West Indies: AL Padmore, AME Roberts, BD Julien, CG Greenidge, CH Lloyd, CL King, DAJ Holford, DL Murray, IVA Richards, J Garner, JC Allen, LG Rowe, MA Holding, RC Fredericks, WW Daniel
World XI: APE Knott, Asif Iqbal, AW Greig, BA Richards, DL Amiss, DL Underwood, EJ Barlow, Imran Khan, JA Snow, Majid Khan, MJ Procter, Mushtaq Mohammad, RA Woolmer, Zaheer Abbas
The Country Cup (Basic Ratings only)
Australia: AA Mallett, BM Laird, DB Yagmich, DK Lillee, DW Hookes, GD McKenzie, GD Watson, GJ Gilmour, GS Chappell, IC Davis, IM Chappell, IR Redpath, KD Walters, KJ O'Keeffe, LS Pascoe, MF Kent, MF Malone, R Edwards, RB McCosker, RD Robinson, RJ Bright, RS Langer, RW Marsh, TM Chappell, W Prior
West Indies: AME Roberts, CG Greenidge, CH Lloyd, IVA Richards, J Garner, RC Fredericks, AL Padmore, BD Julien, CL King, DAJ Holford, DL Murray, JC Allen, LG Rowe, WW Daniel
World XI: APE Knott, Asif Iqbal, AW Greig, BA Richards, DL Amiss, DL Underwood, EJ Barlow, Imran Khan, JA Snow, MA Holding, Majid Khan, MJ Procter, Mushtaq Mohammad, RA Woolmer, Zaheer Abbas
This set of Advanced Player Cards and Basic Ratings is available as a downloadable PDF immediately after purchase.
For more information on World Series Cricket:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_Cricket
- The Cricket Wars. An excellent history by cricket writer, Gideon Hiagh
- Howzat! Kerry Packer's War. A relatively cheesy TV Australian production telling the story of World Series Cricket.
- C'mon Aussie C'mon. The second greatest song about cricket.
Image Source: Cover of the first year annual of World Series Cricket from the personal collection of Darren Edwards.