World Series Cricket Results are the results of the main games played in the now defunct World Series Cricket (WSC)

World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...

 competition. World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 competition staged between 1977 and 1979, organised by Kerry Packer

Kerry Packer

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...

 for his Australian television network, the Nine Network

Nine Network

The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket. World Series Cricket drastically changed the nature of cricket, and its influence continues to be felt today.

WSC involved a three way competition between the WSC Australia XI

WSC Australia XI

The WSC Australia XI was a cricket team representing Australia in World Series Cricket. Their first game was against the WSC West Indies in 1977. World Series Cricket ended in 1979 after the Australian XI tour to the West Indies. The side was made up of current Australian international cricketers...

, WSC West Indies

WSC West Indies

The WSC West Indies was a cricket team representing the West Indies in World Series Cricket. Their first game was against the WSC Australia XI in 1977. World Series Cricket ended in 1979 after the Australian XI tour to the West Indies. The side was made up of current West Indian international...

, and WSC World XI

WSC World XI

The WSC World XI was a cricket team representing the rest of the world in World Series Cricket. Their first game was against the WSC Australia XI in 1978. World Series Cricket ended in 1979 after the Australian XI tour to the West Indies. The side was captained by former England captain Tony Greig,...

, a team composed of players from the other cricketing nations, although a number of West Indian players also played in the World team when they were not playing for the West Indies. Towards the end of the competition a fourth team named the Cavaliers was added for the Country Cavaliers Tour. It was composed of players not selected by the other three sides for that rounds' fixtures; this was a way of making better use of all the players contracted to the competition.

Origin

The series originated due to two main factors—the widespread view that players were not paid sufficient amounts to make a living from cricket, and that Packer wished to secure the exclusive broadcasting rights to Australian cricket, then held by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

. After the Australian Cricket Board (ACB)

Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...

 refused to accept Channel Nine's bid to gain exclusive television rights to Australia's Test matches in 1976, Packer set up his own series by secretly signing agreements with leading players from the national cricket teams of Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa, and the West Indies.

Official cricket won a series of minor victories. WSC was unable to call the Australian team "Australia", or use the official rules of cricket, which are copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 of the MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

. The Australian team therefore became "WSC Australia XI", and former Australian captain and leading commentator Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud

Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....

 took the job of writing rules and playing conditions for the series. WSC was also shut out of traditional cricket venues, so Packer leased two Australian football stadiums, VFL Park

Waverley Park

Waverley Park was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian based Victorian Football League/Australian Football League clubs. However, during the 1990s it became the home ground of...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and Football Park in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, a trotting track in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Gloucester Park

Gloucester Park

Gloucester Park is a harness racing course in Perth, Western Australia. In the suburb of East Perth, the oval course is adjacent to the WACA Ground...

, and the Sydney Showground

Sydney Showground (Moore Park)

The former Sydney Showground at Moore Park was the site of the Sydney Royal Easter Show in New South Wales, Australia from 1882 until 1997, when the Show was moved to the new Sydney Showground at Homebush Bay, which was built for the Sydney 2000 Olympics...

.

1977–78

Another of the victories of official cricket was to ban WSC from using the term "Test match

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

". The five-day matches were therefore retitled "Supertests" in WSC.

Supertests

The Supertests for the 1977–78 season were five-day matches. Two separate series were played, WSC West Indies XI vs WSC Australia XI, and World XI vs WSC Australia XI.

WSC West Indies XI vs WSC Australia XI
WSC West Indies won the series 2–1.

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World XI vs WSC Australia XI
World XI won the series 2–1.

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International Cup

The International Cup consisted of one-day limited overs matches, with both sides allocated forty overs of eight balls each. Two points were awarded for a win, one for a no result or abandonment. If points were level, combined run rate would determine position. The two top two sides contested the first semi-final. The winner of that match progressed to the final, while the loser played the bottom side in the second semi-final for the other place in the final. The final was a one-off winner-takes-all match.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	A	RR
WSC West Indies	11	8	5	2	1	5.84
World XI	7	8	3	4	1	5.07
WSC Australia	6	8	2	4	2	5.01

1st Semi-Final
2nd Semi-Final
Final

Supertests

For the 1978–79 season the Supertest format was changed to a round-robin

Round-robin tournament

A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...

 format, with the top team going to the final, and the other two teams playing-off in a semi-final. The Supertests were also changed from the traditional five-day Test match format to four-day day–night matches.
By winning both matches the WSC World XI qualified for the final. A semi-final between WSC Australia and WSC West Indies determined the other finalist.

Semi-Final
Final

International Cup

For the 1978–79 season the limited overs International Cup saw both sides allocated fifty overs of six balls each. Two points were assigned for a win, one for a no result. If teams were level on points, combined run-rate would be used to separate them. The top two teams would contest a best-of-four final series.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	A	RR
WSC Australia	15	12	7	4	0	3.65
WSC West Indies	11	12	5	6	1	3.51
World XI	10	12	4	6	1	3.44

A crowd of 44,377 attended the first match of the 1978–79 International Cup, under the new floodlights at the SCG.
Finals
WSC West Indies won the finals 3–1.

Supertests

For this series the Supertests reverted to a traditional five-day format.

Drawn series 1–1.