The World Series Cup was the name of the One Day International cricket tournament that took place in Australia every season between Australia and two touring teams from 1979-80 to 1995-96. The tournament was renamed the World Series from 1990-1. This was the very first of the One Day International (ODI) triangular tournaments that later became a common format for ODI series. The World Series name was lost when Benson & Hedges was forced to give up its sponsorship of cricket in Australia in 1996 following changes to Australian law which prevented cigarette companies from advertising at sporting events.

World Series Cricket, run by Kerry Packer during the 1977-8 and 1978-9 seasons, featured a limited overs competition played named the International Cup, played between the three WSC teams: Australia; the West Indies; and the World XI. This series introduced innovations to cricket including cricket under floodlights, white cricket balls, black sightscreens and coloured clothing. When the Australian Cricket Board reconciled with Packer in 1979, it was agreed that a similar three-nation tournament would take place.

World Series Cup 1980-81

Standardised Playing Uniforms

From the 1979-80 World Series Cup right up until the 1997-8 Tri-series, the playing uniforms were standardised by the series organisers. It was not until the 1998-9 Tri-series that England and Sri Lanka became the first teams to play One-day International cricket in Australia in coloured uniforms of their own choosing.

Night matches in World Series Cricket (1977-8 and 1978-9) had used coloured clothing after responding to complaints from players that it was too easy to lose sight of the white ball against the background of white clothing. For the first World Series Cup in 1979-80 however, the organisers attempted to please both players and traditionalists by designing predominantly white playing outfits with coloured stripes on the shoulders and waist (gold for Australia, blue for England and red for the West Indies). This, however, was rejected by the English who wore their traditional white-only clothing during the series, albeit with black batting pads to assist umpires in seeing the ball for lbw decisions.

From 1980-1, the playing uniforms were completely coloured with a country?s dominant colour taking up most of the uniform while a secondary colour was used for the collar, sides, pant pockets and stripes down the arms and around the cuffs. These stripes were omitted from the 1981-2 season. This uniform design was worn by Australia (gold and green), India (grey and gold), New Zealand (tan and black), West Indies (grey and maroon) and Pakistan (green and dark blue). Again, this uniform was deemed too colourful for England who wore a block light blue uniform during the 1982-3 season, although their team jumpers did contain dark blue trim.

The first major re-design of the uniforms came in the 1984-5 season, when the team?s secondary colour was now used for the collar, the band containing the buttons, and a broad stripe around the chest edged above and below by a thinner stripe. All countries? dominant and secondary colours were retained from the previous design apart from India whose dominant colour changed to light blue. Sri Lanka appeared for the first time wearing yellow with dark blue. England continued to wear its block light blue uniform during the 1984-5 World Championship of Cricket but eventually fell into line in the 1986-7 season when dark blue was added as its secondary colour.

The standard uniform format was next changed in 1988-9 when the secondary colour was now used for a single broad stripe around the chest and, for the first time, the players? names on the back of their shirts. A slight variation on the secondary colour was used to write the name of the country across the chest. Somewhat strangely, white was re-introduced to the uniforms in the form of a solid stripe beneath the coloured stripe. Some of the countries also varied their colours. The green in Pakistan?s uniform became noticeably lighter, Sri Lanka switched its uniform so that its dominant colour was now dark blue, and New Zealand changed its dominant colour from tan to grey. While advances in clothing materials meant that Sri Lanka could become the first team to wear a dark coloured uniform in the Australian summer without sweltering, they were not so advanced that New Zealand could wear its preferred black.

1992-3 saw the next change when the secondary colour was now used for coloured lightning bolt designs over the shoulders and onto the chest, the country?s name across the chest and the player?s name on the back. South Africa played in the World Series for the first time in 1993-4 with their colours as bottle green and gold.

The most radical uniform change occurred in the 1994-5 season when the uniforms consisted of vertical stripes of alternating colours so that on the shirt, the dominant colour would be taken over by the secondary colour as the stripes moved from left shoulder to right shoulder. Zimbabwe played in red and black colours, West Indies added green to their grey and maroon, Sri Lanka?s uniform was dark blue on both arms with green and yellow trim in the centre, while Australia A wore a reversal of the main Australian colours, i.e. mostly green with gold trim, but with a significantly lighter green to distinguish them from South Africa. In addition, the uniform would feature a national symbol: the Southern Cross for Australia and Australia A; the Union Jack for England; the Zimbabwe bird for Zimbabwe; the lion for Sri Lanka; and a palm tree for the West Indies. In addition, 1995-6 saw player numbers introduced on the back of the shirts.

The first two years of the new Tri-series were the last two years of standardised one-day uniforms in Australia. In these years, the secondary colour was used in a block across the shoulders and arms and in spaced vertical stripes down the body of the shirt. The West Indies continued to wear their uniform from the 1995-6 season and Pakistan returned to the darker green of their early World Series Cup years. In 1997-8, South Africa, in an attempt to distinguish them from both Australia and Australia A, wore red with green and gold trim, while New Zealand ditched both tan and grey and wore teal with their standard black.

Venues

In 1979-80, 12 qualifying matches were held. This was increased to 15 in 1980-1 before reverting to 12 in 1986-7. Matches were held at the following Australian grounds:

• Adelaide Oval
• 'Gabba, Brisbane
• NWTCA Ground, Devonport
• Bellerive Oval, Hobart
• TCA Ground, Hobart
• NTCA Ground, Launceston
• Melbourne Cricket Ground
• WACA Ground, Perth
• Sydney Cricket Ground

In 1979-80, the series concluded with a best-of-three finals series. This was expanded to a best-of-five series in 1980-1 before reverting to best-of-three in 1982-3. Finals matches were always held in Melbourne and Sydney.

World Series Cup notable events

• 1979-80 - The match on 27 November 1979 between Australia and the West Indies in Sydney was the first official One Day International to be played at night

• 1979-80 - England defeated the West Indies by two runs in Sydney when, with the West Indies requiring three runs to win from the final ball of the match, England captain Mike Brearley pushed all of his fieldsmen, including the wicket-keeper, back to the boundary. The WSC rules would later be changed to incorporate a fielding circle 30 yards from the pitch and restrictions on the number of fieldsmen allowed to be outside the circle at different stages of the innings

• 1979-80 - The West Indies were the first winners of the World Series Cup beating England in the best-of-three finals. For the only time in the history of the World Series Cup, Australia did not qualify for the finals series

• 1980-81 - Australian captain Greg Chappell takes 5 for 15 against India in Sydney. This would remain the best individual bowling analysis in the WSC until equalled by Indian Ravi Shastri 11 years later. India were bowled out for 63, the lowest score in the WSC

• 1980-81 - New Zealand recorded the only 10-wicket victory in the WSC when John Wright and Bruce Edgar passed India's total in Melbourne

• 1980-81 - New Zealand defeated Australia by one run in Sydney. Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh broke his bat during Australia's run chase

• 1980-81 - In the third Final, with New Zealand needing six runs from the final ball to tie the match, Australian captain Greg Chappell ordered his younger brother, Trevor to bowl the ball underarm along the ground. Following an international outcry, the WSC laws were changed so that any ball delivered underarm would be called no ball

Trevor Chappell bowls underarm to Brian McKechnie in the 3rd Final of 1980-81 WSC

• 1981-82 - In the final qualifying match, Australia defeated the West Indies at Sydney on faster scoring rate in a rain shortened match. The Melbourne Age newspaper alleged that the West Indies threw the match to ensure the Australians got to the finals series ahead of Pakistan. WI captain Clive Lloyd won a libel action against the newspaper and was awarded damages plus costs

• 1982-83 - England batsman David Gower scored 158 against New Zealand at Brisbane, the highest individual score in the World Series Cup.

• 1982-83 - In the second Final, Australia scored 8 for 302 against New Zealand in Melbourne; the first score of over 300 in the WSC. In reply, all-rounder Lance Cairns completed his fifty in 21 balls, then the ODI record for the fastest fifty, and hit six sixes, then the ODI record for the most sixes in an innings

• 1983-84 - The first ever tied One-day International took place in the second Final at the MCG between Australia and the West Indies when Carl Rackemann was run out going for the winning run. After the match, the West Indies, having won the first Final, argued that they could not lose the series and therefore should be awarded the World Series Cup. The organisers, however, decreed that the series had not been decided and a third final should be played. West Indies duly won that match by six wickets

• 1984-85 - An unbroken third-wicket partnership of 224 between Australian batsmen Dean Jones and Allan Border against Sri Lanka in Adelaide was then the highest for any wicket in ODIs. Australia's score of 2 for 323 was the highest team total in the WSC and its victory by 232 runs was the greatest winning margin

• 1985-86 - One match after qualifying for the finals, Australia suffered its greatest ever one-day loss when it was defeated by New Zealand by 206 runs in Adelaide

• 1985-86 - Australian fast bowler Bruce Reid took the only hat-trick in the WSC when he achieved the feat against New Zealand in Sydney on 29 January 1986. It was just the second hat-trick in ODIs

• 1986-87 - England became the only team other than Australia and the West Indies to win the WSC. Mike Gatting's team completed a unique treble by also winning the Ashes Test series and the Benson & Hedges Challenge one-day tournament

• 1987-88 - In the opening match of the series, Tony Dodemaide took 5-21 on his one day debut v Sri Lanka at Perth.

• 1987-88 - New Zealand again defeated Australia by one run, this time in Perth

• 1988-89 - The West Indies defeated Australia by one run in Sydney when Craig McDermott hit Curtley Ambrose to Viv Richards from the final ball of the match

• 1988-89 - For the second time, the West Indies came back from one down to beat Australia in the best of three finals. Australia won the opening match by 2 runs at MCG. West Indies won by the 2nd match by 92 runs and the third final on faster scoring rate.

• 1990-91 - New Zealand recorded their third one run victory over Australia in the WSC, this time in Hobart. With one over remaining, Australia needed two runs to win. New Zealand fast bowler Chris Pringle bowled a maiden over to Australian tail-ender Bruce Reid to secure the victory.

• 1991-92 - The second WSC tie occurred when the West Indies and India were both bowled out for 126 in the first game of the series in Perth.

• 1991-92 - Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri took 5 for 15 against Australia in Perth, equalling the best bowling performance in the WSC of Greg Chappell in 1981

• 1992-93 - Mark Taylor captained Australia for the first time against the West Indies in Sydney. Taylor took four catches as his team successfully defended a total of just 101

• 1992-93 - The third WSC tie was played in Hobart between Australia and Pakistan. From the final ball, Asif Mujtaba hit a full toss from Steve Waugh for six to tie the match

• 1992-93 - West Indian opening batsman Phil Simmons takes 4 for 3 from 10 overs against Pakistan in Sydney, the most economical bowling figures in ODI history

• 1993-94 - Australia won the best of three finals after being one down against South Africa.

• 1994-95 - A fourth team was introduced to the World Series, Australia A for the only time. The Australian selectors re-shuffled both their teams so that some players stepped up from the A team to the first team and others went the other way.

• 1995-96 - Australia defeated West Indies in Sydney by one wicket when Michael Bevan hits a four from the last ball to win the match.

References

• Limited Overs International Cricket - The Complete Record (1971-1996)

Bill Frindall Headline ISBN 0-7472-1173-6

• One Day International Cricket - The Ultimate Guide to Limited-Overs Internationals compiled by Stephen Samuelson, Ray Mason and David Clark. Feb 1999. Robinson Publishing ISBN 1-84119-038-1

Tournament results