A compilation of highlights from the first ever WSC SuperTest, played Dec 2-4, 1977 - WI won by 3 wkts Enjoy watching some all time champions go around!
So good. So much to note, interviewing batsmen straight after dismissal, rope so far in square, Greenidge whinging straight on to the Tele, commentary on how "we've got cameras AT BOTH ENDS! And this in only the first 15 minutes. Thanks Lawrie
Amazing WI . what a team - west indies , Australia and England dominated 70s and 80s . WI bowling attact was world class with Roberts -Holding -Garner-Marshall -Croft . And who will forget Lily Thommo duo of Australian fast bowling
I attended Day 3 of the 3rd Supertest at Football Park in SA. Great entertainment, but there were only a few dozen of us spectators. It was primarily a TV show. WSC couldn't rent any stadia controlled by cricket associations, hence these matches at football fields that were designed to NOT have cricket pitches in the middle. The drop-in pitch was invented at that time by WSC.
@@hanajinks1044 - Only if you're too young to remember how small the Test cricket crowds were in the 1970s - and WSC Supertests were the very new opposition to them. Die-hard traditionalists called it "not real cricket." It wasn't until WSC started playing ODIs with coloured uniforms that their popularity suddenly skyrocketed, and Australian Cricket Board conceded to amalgamate for its own survival. No big screen replays in those days, so watching on TV at home had that, and several camera angles (in contrast to the ABC's one camera not even changing ends).
@@brianvogt8125 The '75 and '76 summer tours both drew big crowds and hastened WSC ...l was 10 in '77...and just can't quite remember why there were hardly any there.....perhaps a lot of it was as you say...were the Pakistani's touring at the same time and we shunned WSC at first for that? As Conditioned by the Establishment and media? Lol. All l remember is that it was the most competitive cricket ever...with a few hundred there. And still "shunned" by the Establishment as far as averages go...
@@brianvogt8125Bullshit. Seventies crowds for Test cricket were fine. WSC crowds were generally small because although the players were top class, the results were meaningless.
Thank you for this video. It would be nice to see some of Viv Richards' batting in these Super Test Series. He scored 5 centuries in one series... hope to see them all here like the little cameo in this video...
The comment was a jab at the ABC who still had the live telecast contract from the Australian Cricket Board for test cricket. They had a camera at only one end, so in alternate overs it was difficult for viewers to track the ball all of the way to the batsman.
@@brianvogt8125 Indded. The B.B.C. had the rights to English and Welsh Cricket,but could NOT afford cameras at both ends untill 1991. When David Gower became the main presenter until 1997 when Channel Four won the rights until SKY U.K. from 2005. Many thanks for your reoly.
Please accept my deepest gratitude for sharing this video. I'll literally treat you like the Second Cricket Messiah (first one been roblinda) :-) Thanks again!!
Amazing to think that CH9 has been using variations of this song for its cricket coverage for 4 decades now. Much better than the crap the ABC was using for its telecasts at the time.
Partly because the ABC has never been flush with money, while Mr Packer had this tendency to see a problem & throw more cash at it until it went away and then throw some more at it. "I don't want to watch the backside of the batsmen. Put a camera at the other end." "What do you mean the camera man can't keep track of where the ball is going... Put another camera at point & also at square leg, we'll have the whole ground covered, Oh & put some in the light towers too, they'll give a different perspective."
greetings, a rare video to watch and will know the players and also how difficult those days the batting conditions (no helmet, no covering-up up of wickets, no protection to body). thanks ramesh
Now there's a name, Jim Allen! Clive Lloyd was hoping he'd be the next big thing. So many highlights. How quickly did the umps call out for lbw in those days lol. Right handed batsman and left arm bowler Ray Bright made a half century against the mighty Windies bowlers - fantastic! Hooksey having a bowl and that famous pads catch Marshy took off his bowling. I remember it making the first ever classic catches comp. How about those crowds! Looks more like a shield game! At least the spectators would have got out of the Waverley car park in less than an hour which never happened any other time! Thanks for this - so many great memories
Great footage. I remember as a kid watching a partnership between Viv Richard and Barry Richards. They were playing Lillee, Pascoe , Thomson (I think). Normally these 2 were in different teams. It was a treat to watch- the driving of BR and the cross bat shots of Viv. If anyone has footage - post it!
That was amazing, I think the world got to around 1-450 after a day, and a bit , openers hit a hundred each, Barry went on to 200 and Viv ended up around 170
Thx this footage was great....Incredible. Holding took tons of wickets in that first match, according to the scoring board - please post ALL of them. More of Holding and Richards pls. Thx
The passing of the baton from Australia to west indies. Australia were still good and would give west indies a run for their money when they played them until the retire,ment of Marsh Lillee and Chappell, but from hereon in the West Indies were the best team in the world.
I don't think there is any unfortunately. Have a look at the Gideon haigs The cricket war, he goes into detail about the lack of film from the Caribbean
Once during a Packer Super Test, not much was happening. There was also a regular Test Match in play in another Australian capital city. So I was channel hopping back and forth between the two. Anyways, the Super Test commentary suddenly went silent for some minutes, and all that could be heard faintly in the background was some other dialog, which I recognized was the Test Match broadcast. The Packer mob were also watching the Test Match rather than the live Super Test in front of them. In all, it seemed like 8 solid minutes before the commentary resumed. There might have been a war between the two 'formats,' but they kept an eye on each other all the time.
@@NishitShukla From memory, I think it was the touring Indians. It was a strange time back then in cricket. Although the Packer test matches were generally high quality and very competitive, the same groups of players were involved. This made the viewing repetitive. On the other hand, the Australians in the traditional test team were often not the same quality and had less experience. The touring Indians provided a new team to watch, and for a while the traditional test matches were drawing better crowds and TV viewers than the Packer tests. The thing that changed everything was when Packer 50 over one day matches started to be played half-day and half-night. The crowds poured in like crazy. This is what started talks between Packer and the Australian Cricket Board. As a teenager, I went to two of the Packer 50 over one day matches, played at a horse trotting ground in Perth. I got a bunch of autographs after the match and still have them. Tony Grieg was friendly and would talk to anyone. The West Indians would also hang around their team bus and sign autographs. The Australian team never did; they avoided the public. I remember the Aussies in their team bus entering the stadium before the match against the West Indies; no one was talking and they looked spooked. Max Walker at the back of the bus was pale as he stared out the wind. Joel Garner was a giant. After the match, he grabbed his cricket back to sling over his shoulder and I had to duck. (Those days kids and teenagers had to look after their own safety.) One teen remembered every shot played during the match, and the West Indian player he was chatting to was really impressed with his knowledge and understanding of the game. I have often wondered if he went to play for Australia years later as he knew cricket inside and out!
@@electronwave4551 hmmm.. It must have been my India, India won two and lost two, thus drawing a 5 match test series, Thomson played in those matches, Bob Simpson came out of retirement to captain the side. There was Gavaskar in our team but Kapil had not yet debuted.
@@NishitShukla That's right. India did well for a touring side. The Australian test team was not battle hardened nor as experienced as the Packer mob. But Thommo played well if I recall correctly, but he didn't have Lillee to keep up the pressure from the other end. I have often heard former Packer players say the Super Tests were the toughest matches they played. There was a lot of 'polite' hostility between the Aussies and West Indies because of the bumper wars a couple of years earlier.
@@electronwave4551 l have never liked the idea of that Packer series but I think it went a long way in transforming the game, Day Night matches, ODIs, better pay, TV rights, coloured clothing. However, the game has taken a dangerous turn now with T20 leagues, cricket is not the kind of game where you can play football type club leagues, let's hope test cricket survives this final onslaught.
Windies beat Australia 2-1, then the World XI did likewise. The following year it was 1-0 Australia from two Supertests, with the World XI 2-0 over Australia and 1-0 against the Windies. There was also a Caribbean tour which was 1-1 with three Supertests drawn or abandoned.
Unfortunately, we wont be hearing this theme anymore for a while after the rights have gone to foxtel/seven. I hope 9 do a retrospective special on their 40 years of covering cricket in australia now they have lost the rights.
Good effort mate. Do you have any other of the WSC Tests eg the one where the 2 Richards' scored 207 and 177, Greenidge 140 and Greg Chappell responded with 174 (Gloucester Park, same season), or the 78/9 Final where Barry Richards won the game with 101*, helped by Proccy's 44? Obviously is asking a lot I know...lol Btw, I heard Jim Maxwell 'bigging you up' on Test Match Special over here few months ago. DEL
Sadly there is very little of SuperTest 5 (Perth) and 6 (VFL Park) of 1977-78. Most of the stuff that exists is already on youtube. Not much of SuperTest 2, but there is already something about on SuperTest 3. SuperTest 4, exists in the Nine archives....
LOL...I remember that game well. I came home and the World XI were 0/369...I thought the Aussies were in a bit of trouble...I was always a master of the understatement...anyone notice the crowd? That's the way I remember Supertests and not the Packer-hyped packed houses that Channel 9 always shows
It isn't just professional cricketers who owe Kerry Packer a debt of gratitude, so too do spectators. WSC on TV is where today's coverage of the game began. At the time, remember, the BBC was covering cricket with no more than one camera at each end, topped and tailed by the received pronunciation English of Peter West, aided and abetted by others of whom the BBC similarly approved.
Gee rod marsh with the st Peter's bat,now thats going back..do they still make them?..sad that his batting went south after wsc..it is said that that the constant barrage of west indies bowlers, helped his dimise,still a fantastic wicket keeper ,and one before his time for example cutting his pads to make them lighter and more flexible.before wsc his batting average was 33,when he retired 26.
Yes, it was the Victorian Football League's main venue, designed to NOT have a cricket pitch in the middle. Nevertheless, the best-attended football matches were (and still are) held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground due to its much larger capacity. These Supertests were in opposition to Test cricket, so WSC was blocked from renting any main cricket stadium at the time.
Yes! It operated as an Australian Football venue from 1970-2000. The VFL/AFL played matches there until 1999, the last match played there was the 2000 VFA/VFL Grand Final. It sat neglected for several years until it mostly demolished. Part of the main members stand was kept as was the field, AFL club Hawthorn use it as their home base now. VFL Park or later known as Waverley Park had a capacity of 77,000 although its record was over 92,000 in 1981. It hosted the 1991 AFL Grand Final between Hawthorn and West Coast.
@@hanajinks1044 it was just a magnificent stadium The food outlets the toilets were absolutely huge The way the ground was designed you could take your kids and they could walk right around the ground members to members and not get lost Even today hawthorn training I went there a couple years back and he has the best plane surface still , just as good as the MCG today if not better
@@dannymiller7880 I just thought it lacked the atmosphere of the suburban grounds ...but if you're taking kids then it is possibly an easier option. Even as a kid tho l preferred Windy Hill or Moorabbin to Waverley....each to their own, l guess.
Could be worse ... you could be run out without facing a ball. Saw that happen to David Hookes in one of his comeback tests, against Kiwis at SCG in '85. To his credit he responded with a gutsy knock in second innings that helped win test.
I don't actually remember whether they had adverts, but it would have made good sense to refrain during this formative stage. Kerry Packer was already swimming in money, and they were competing against the test cricket telecasts on the ABC (Australia's non-commercial broadcaster).
@@brianvogt8125 I think they only had Commercials at the end of every over and when wickets when Channel Nine offically won the rights from the A.B.C. in 1979.
@@garrysimpson1395 Yes, by that stage all telecast cricket (especially ODIs) had a bigger following than ever before, so advertising revenue was huge. WSC had actually outbid the ABC for the previous ACB contract, but the ACB awarded it to the ABC because they thought commercial interests would ruin the gentleman's sport.
@@garrysimpson1395 No, WSC was right in its time. Since Kerry Packer died, cricket left the Channel 9 network, and various forms have drifted to the 7 & 10 networks. Particularly with the advent of 20-20 competitions (IPL & T20), it's suffering badly from over-exposure. Spectators demand hyper-action, but mental depression has never been so prevalent in the general community.
When WSC first started, people were skeptical. It took a little while, but people started realising the standard of cricket was better than the official series between India and Australia and soon started turning up to matches.
@@jugheadsrule The India-Australia series in 1977/78 really annoyed me as that was our best chance of smashing Australia in 20th century; Laughable team apart from Thommo who too was coming after his infamous collision with Allan Turner..,,,
@@kunalsingh3121 Bob Simpson was around 41 and recalled...it was very competitive cricket tho and India could've won that series ...Tony Mann still doesn't have to buy drinks in this country. Gavaskar was absolutely brilliant in that series.
@@hanajinks1044 Yes you are right; though it was competitive but Australia were indeed a pissweak team in 1977 series; There 15 premier players were away due to Packer.. Gavaskar was indeed brilliant avg 50 in that series but was aided by that depleted attack as well; its pitty Viv's aggregate against top Australian side didnt get in his official stats while Vishy and Sunil made merry in those 3 years a lot against depleted Windies and Aussie sides..,,,Sunny was also relieved that his nemesis Dennis Lillee wasnt there who humbled him both times they met in 1971 series as well 1980 series luckily for him 1971 World XI test status was scarpped by Wisden like that of 1970 series in UK..,,,.. At last; We should have won this series considering we drew there next time in 1980 against full strength Aussie side.. Cheers .
@@kunalsingh3121 Gosh, l just had another look at the scorecards from that series... Very interesting to see JUST how weak we were...so many failed batting experiments as well. Very interesting to read what you wrote, especially about Sunny. And it really is strange that those World XI games and the Supertests STILL aren't included in official records. It was great to cast my mind back ...that partnership in Perth between Chauhan and Armanath still lives in my memory....
Great coverage though.Cameras at both ends of the ground still used 39 years on. Packer won the T.V. Rights from The A.B.C. in 1979? From The New Forest U.K. Thank You for your reply. GOD BLESS!
Typical Old fashioned proud PoM hey, Wanting to stick with tradition. it Being controversial at time, & best players going to WorldSeriesCricket, Fans chose to watch test cricket with India instead when they toured at same time. WSC Made the game seem so much more professional, as well as players earning more money, & its transition to Commercial TV. The 2nd season drew large crowds. Rest is history:
