World Series Cricket (WSC) was a professional cricket competition established by Kerry Packer which ran from 1977 and 1979. Packer set the competition up after failing to gain the rights to show Test cricket on his Channel Nine television channel. It was opposed by the International Cricket Conference (ICC), who ruled that such matches would not be first-class, and any players taking part would be banned from playing in officially sanctioned cricket, although the latter was ruled to be a "restraint of trade" and was not enforceable. They also barred the WSC from using the term "Test matches", or naming a team "Australia". As a result, the matches were dubbed "Supertests", while the teams were WSC Australia XI, WSC West Indies XI and WSC World XI. In all, 16 Supertests and 58 international one-day matches were played, before Packer and the Australian Cricket Board came to an agreement in May 1979, and World Series Cricket came to an end.

The first Supertest began on 2 December 1977, although the first century (100 or more runs in a single innings) was not scored until the third match, in which Ian Chappell accumulated 141 runs in the first innings. Bruce Laird and Viv Richards went on to score centuries in the same match. A month later, Barry Richards achieved the competition's first double century, scoring 207 runs for the WSC World XI. In the same innings, Gordon Greenidge and Richards also passed a hundred, while Greg Chappell did so in the second innings for WSC Australia XI. In the next match, Greg Chappell surpassed Richards' total, remaining 246 not out, one of his record five WSC centuries.

Only two centuries were made in the international one-day matches. Kepler Wessels scored the first, accruing 136 runs; his score is the highest in WSC one-day international matches, and makes him the only player to have scored a century in both a Supertest and an international one-day match in the WSC. The other century was scored by Martin Kent, who scored 109 runs. In all, 25 centuries were scored in Supertests, and 2 in international one-day matches. Seven of the centuries were scored at VFL Park in Melbourne, the most of any venue.

Key Symbol Meaning * The century scorer remained not out. Inn. The innings of the match in which the player scored his century. Date The date on which the match began. Lost The match was lost by the century scorer's team. Won The match was won by the century scorer's team. Drawn The match was drawn.

Century scores + Centuries in Supertests No. Player Score For Against Inn. Venue Date Result 1 141 Australia West Indies 1 Football Park, Adelaide Won 2 106 2 Australia West Indies 3 Football Park, Adelaide Won 3 123 West Indies Australia 4 Football Park, Adelaide Lost 4 106 1 Australia World XI 1 RAS Showground, Sydney Lost 5 119 World XI Australia 2 RAS Showground, Sydney Won 6 207 World XI Australia 1 Gloucester Park, Perth Won 7 140 World XI Australia 1 Gloucester Park, Perth Won 8 177 World XI Australia 1 Gloucester Park, Perth Won 9 174 Australia World XI 2 Gloucester Park, Perth Lost 10 129 Australia World XI 1 VFL Park, Melbourne Won 11 246* Australia World XI 1 VFL Park, Melbourne Won 12 170 World XI Australia 2 VFL Park, Melbourne Lost 13 107 World XI West Indies 1 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Won 14 126 Australia West Indies 1 VFL Park, Melbourne Drawn 15 116 Australia West Indies 1 VFL Park, Melbourne Drawn 16 175 West Indies Australia 2 VFL Park, Melbourne Drawn 17 101* World XI Australia 4 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Won 18 197 West Indies Australia 3 Sabina Park, Kingston Won 19 122 Australia West Indies 1 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Won 20 150 Australia West Indies 3 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain Won 21 113 Australia West Indies 1 Bourda, Georgetown Drawn 22 110 West Indies Australia 2 Bourda, Georgetown Drawn 23 104 Australia West Indies 1 Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's Drawn 24 135 West Indies Australia 2 Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's Drawn 25 102* Australia West Indies 3 Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's Drawn

+ Centuries in international one-day matches No. Player Score For Against Inn. Venue Date Result 1 136 Australia West Indies 1 VFL Park, Melbourne Won 2 109 Australia West Indies 2 Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Lost

See also

List of World Series Cricket international five-wicket hauls

Notes and references Notes

References