In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket Roger Seymour looks at the 1979 Prudential World Cup Final between the West Indies and England.
When the 1979 Prudential World Cup commenced on 9th June, the cricketing world was still adjusting to the impact of two seasons of World Series Cricket (WSC) on the game, and the surprise announcement on 30th May, of a truce between the Australia Cricket Board (ACB) and Kerry Packer’s WSC organisation. The media magnate’s Channel Nine Television Network had not only won the exclusive rights to telecast Australian cricket (Packer’s original target), but had also been granted a ten-year contract to promote and market the game.
As the 1980 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack duly noted, “The feeling in many quarters was that when the Australian Board first found Packer at their throats, the rest of the cricket world supported them to the hilt; even to the extent of highly expensive court cases which cricket could ill afford. Now, when it suited Australia, they had brushed their friends aside to meet their own ends.” For the ‘many quarters’, one should read the ICC and the then England Test and County Cricket Board which had provided much financial and moral support to the ACB.