Kerry Packer

Kerry Packer died on the 26th.
I will remember Packer as the man who was responsible for the resurrection of one day Cricket. 25 years ago, at a time when the game was governed by old farts who were too tradition bound to experiment with different forms of presenting the game, Packer shook the Cricket world with his World Series Cricket. From 1977 – 79, WSC revolutionized the way Cricket was brought to the masses and made it an immensely more viewer friendly sport. Packers’ lateral thinking certainly ruffled some feathers in the establishment but also introduced Cricket to new media. Day-night onedayers, coloured clothes for the players, cameras at both ends of the pitch (this was Packers’ own idea. He said in his own inimitable way that he didn’t want to look at the batsmen’s backsides) breathed new life into Cricket. The Cricket that we see today has a lot to thank Packer for.
Cricket isn’t really a spectator sport. Many early Cricket traditionalists believed Cricket to be a sport only for the players. Through the many decades, no real effort was made by anyone, least of all the Cricket administrators to make Cricket more viewer friendly. Packer changed all that with his exciting brand of Cricket where personalities and entertainment were as important as the game itself.