7 historic moments that revolutionized the game of cricket

#6 World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket challenged the establishment and disrupted the game, albeit in a constructive manner.

When the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) denied Kerry Packer’s Nine Network the exclusive broadcasting rights to Australian Cricket, Packer devised a novel plan to assert his claims. He was to form a breakaway professional Cricket competition, sign top cricketers, pay handsome salaries, introduce several innovations and draw the crowds. In doing so, he intended to arm twist the ABC into submission.

The World Series Cricket (WSC) was thus born in 1977.

By the end of its second season 1979, the ABC had relented and Packer had his exclusive rights to broadcast Australian Cricket and a ten-year contract to market the game.

A typical corporate battle, one might think but the implications and ensuing legacy of WSC lingers on. WSC popularized one-day Cricket. Players were now full time professionals and owing to a packed schedule, needed to be stay fit.

Packer brought broadcasters into the bargaining fray in the manner in which he negotiated with the ABC. The standards were set and the media houses of today have a huge say in the functioning of the game. As a result, the player’s compensation packages witnessed a surge and Cricket boards grew wealthier.

WSC also revolutionized the manner in which Cricket was being marketed to the masses. The “C’mon Aussie C’mon” theme song sent a creative surge in the minds of marketers the world over when it came to taking Cricket to the masses. And to cap it all off, the introduction of coloured clothing and brand merchandise created new avenues for turning Cricket into a commercially viable international sport of serious reckoning.