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The Cricket War: The Story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket
One of The Times' 50 Greatest Sports Books
In May 1977, the cricket world awoke to discover that a thirty-nine-year-old Sydney Businessman called Kerry Packer had signed thirty-five elite international players for his own televised 'World Series'. The Cricket War is the definitive account of the split that changed the game on the field and on the screen.
In helmets, under lights, with white balls, and in coloured clothes, the outlaw armies of Ian Chappell, Tony Greig and Clive Lloyd fought a daily battle of survival. In boardrooms and courtrooms Packer and cricket's rulers fought a bitter war of nerves.
A compelling account of the top-class sporting life, The Cricket War also gives a unique insight into the motives and methods of the man who became Australia's richest, and remained so, until the day he died. It was the end of cricket as we knew it – and the beginning of cricket as we know it.
Gideon Haigh has published over thirty books, over twenty of them about cricket. This edition of The Cricket War , Gideon Haigh's first book about cricket originally published in 1993, has been updated with new photographs and a new introduction by the author.
In May 1977, the cricket world awoke to discover that a thirty-nine-year-old Sydney Businessman called Kerry Packer had signed thirty-five elite international players for his own televised 'World Series'. The Cricket War is the definitive account of the split that changed the game on the field and on the screen.
In helmets, under lights, with white balls, and in coloured clothes, the outlaw armies of Ian Chappell, Tony Greig and Clive Lloyd fought a daily battle of survival. In boardrooms and courtrooms Packer and cricket's rulers fought a bitter war of nerves.
A compelling account of the top-class sporting life, The Cricket War also gives a unique insight into the motives and methods of the man who became Australia's richest, and remained so, until the day he died. It was the end of cricket as we knew it – and the beginning of cricket as we know it.
Gideon Haigh has published over thirty books, over twenty of them about cricket. This edition of The Cricket War , Gideon Haigh's first book about cricket originally published in 1993, has been updated with new photographs and a new introduction by the author.
368 pages, Paperback
First published December 14, 2007
34 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Gideon Haigh
100 books109 followersGideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist, who writes about sport (especially cricket) and business. He was born in London, raised in Geelong, and now lives in Melbourne.
Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for The Age newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines,[2] both on business topics as well as on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in The Times and the Financial Times.
Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game, his biographies The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson), the latter pronounced The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times;[3] anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip, the humorous diary of a club cricket season, and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club, of which he is life member and perennate vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which dilates the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press.
Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show Offsiders. He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.
Haigh has been known to be critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".[4] He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly, entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".[4]
Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006[5] for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid",[6] which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.
He blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.[7]
On 24 October 2012 he addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne.
Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for The Age newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines,[2] both on business topics as well as on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in The Times and the Financial Times.
Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game, his biographies The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson), the latter pronounced The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times;[3] anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip, the humorous diary of a club cricket season, and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club, of which he is life member and perennate vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which dilates the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press.
Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show Offsiders. He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.
Haigh has been known to be critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".[4] He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly, entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".[4]
Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006[5] for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid",[6] which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.
He blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.[7]
On 24 October 2012 he addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 12, 2017
The Cricket War – When the game went to war with itself
The Cricket War by the excellent cricket writer, Gideon Haigh, has been republished and updated since it was first published in 1993. In fact, this book was also made in to a docudrama in Australia, which showed even the none cricket fan what really went on in 1977, when cricket seemed to eat itself.
This is the story of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, something different to the cricket whites and red ball cricket people had grown up with. In 1977, Packer was 39 years old, and to some was threatening the whole existence of cricket, to others he was an innovator and a head of his time. Some of what Packer brought into the WSC, we now consider as normal and having been around for so long we cannot remember times, without, for example, pjamama cricket.
To those who today watch one-day cricket and 20/20 cricket and prefer it to county and test cricket, will be shocked to read what went before. This book gives a sense of the history of what happened to create the modern game of cricket as we know it today. From what I remember, to many cricket fans, the creation of the World Series Cricket was more dangerous than a rebel’s tour to apartheid South Africa. Maybe it was, but the sense that Packer could see red ball cricket needed refreshing and that comes across in this book quite clearly to me.
Gideon Haigh has researched and written, in my opinion, one of the best cricket books on the market today. His interviews with the cricketers concerned, not just the reported stories, helps to make this a compulsive read, and gives an insight from a player’s view as to what was actually happening. Not only was this a ground-breaking time for cricket, but for sports media as a whole, and marketing of the game.
What Packer did in 1977, it enabled Sky and Rupert Murdoch to do in the 1990s and it must never be forgotten that it was using his fellow Aussies innovations, that Sky gained a foothold in British sports media, and it was cricket that saved Sky. This was before they helped create the Premier League, again the various TV angles get today again all Packer’s ideas.
This is really a fascinating read, and forty years later it is easy to see the improvements that Packer brought to cricket and sports media. It is also easy to see the failings. This really is an enjoyable book to read, the writing style makes it a pure pleasure to read, and the subject matter interesting.
The Cricket War by the excellent cricket writer, Gideon Haigh, has been republished and updated since it was first published in 1993. In fact, this book was also made in to a docudrama in Australia, which showed even the none cricket fan what really went on in 1977, when cricket seemed to eat itself.
This is the story of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, something different to the cricket whites and red ball cricket people had grown up with. In 1977, Packer was 39 years old, and to some was threatening the whole existence of cricket, to others he was an innovator and a head of his time. Some of what Packer brought into the WSC, we now consider as normal and having been around for so long we cannot remember times, without, for example, pjamama cricket.
To those who today watch one-day cricket and 20/20 cricket and prefer it to county and test cricket, will be shocked to read what went before. This book gives a sense of the history of what happened to create the modern game of cricket as we know it today. From what I remember, to many cricket fans, the creation of the World Series Cricket was more dangerous than a rebel’s tour to apartheid South Africa. Maybe it was, but the sense that Packer could see red ball cricket needed refreshing and that comes across in this book quite clearly to me.
Gideon Haigh has researched and written, in my opinion, one of the best cricket books on the market today. His interviews with the cricketers concerned, not just the reported stories, helps to make this a compulsive read, and gives an insight from a player’s view as to what was actually happening. Not only was this a ground-breaking time for cricket, but for sports media as a whole, and marketing of the game.
What Packer did in 1977, it enabled Sky and Rupert Murdoch to do in the 1990s and it must never be forgotten that it was using his fellow Aussies innovations, that Sky gained a foothold in British sports media, and it was cricket that saved Sky. This was before they helped create the Premier League, again the various TV angles get today again all Packer’s ideas.
This is really a fascinating read, and forty years later it is easy to see the improvements that Packer brought to cricket and sports media. It is also easy to see the failings. This really is an enjoyable book to read, the writing style makes it a pure pleasure to read, and the subject matter interesting.
February 4, 2018
It’s impossible now to imagine two years of matches involving such an array of superstars being as invisible to a cricket crazy teenager as these were. Yet in England we were led to believe these matches were just not cricket and, in any event, coverage from overseas was sparse. Looking back now, with the help of Gideon Haigh and testimony from some of the players involved, it is fascinating to see the emergence of helmets, floodlights, cameras at both ends of the ground, coloured kit ... things that are all taken for granted today. It’s also interesting to read how much of the time so many of the players were overplayed, underpaid, injured, cowering in the face of rioting fans.... it’s all a bit of a breeze these days!
Given what limited coverage Wisden offers the World Series matches, this book is worth it for the scorecards at the back, never mind the history of how World Series cricket as a competitor to the mainstream game struggled, succeeded and then went, whilst changing forever what came subsequently.
Given what limited coverage Wisden offers the World Series matches, this book is worth it for the scorecards at the back, never mind the history of how World Series cricket as a competitor to the mainstream game struggled, succeeded and then went, whilst changing forever what came subsequently.
January 28, 2018
As a cricket fan from the 90's, the Packer revolution was always something you heard about in the background, mentioned in newspaper articles but I never really understood the details or knew the narrative of what went down. Part of this probably because of the lack of highlights on TV and no Indian presence - but now that I think about it - it's surprising that so little of it is known to this generation.
With that context, when I happened to hear about The Cricket War and that it was finally back in print, picked it up without too much thought. The blurb of '50 Greatest Sports Books' by The Times does it no harm. And Gideon Haigh is a familiar name from ESPNCricinfo.
After trawling through it over the best part of a three day weekend, I'm conflicted about how to rate it. It is a meticulously well-researched book - encyclopedic almost in it's level of detail, excruciatingly recreating both boardroom shenanigans as well as on-field drama by referencing hundreds of other books. The 2 year period of 1977 to 1979 is covered in detail in four key parts - how Packer was spruned, how he set up the WSC, the action on the field and how the 'circus' evolved and the eventual truce with it's aftermath and collateral damage. As a cricket fan for over 20 years it told me tons of things I didn't know and wouldn't have associated with Packer - from helmets and rebel tours to the dangerous nature of cricket in that era and how the careers of some past greats better known as commentators and coaches evolved (Tony Greig, Ian Chappell, Bob Woolmer amongst others...). There are parts more related to the world of business than the world of sport, but it would be naive to want to understand the latter without appreciation of the former.
And yet, this is not an easy book to follow or read. Haigh is more a classical 'writer' than a sports journalist (side note -the number of times I needed to check a word's meaning in the dictionary in this book was much much higher than usual). He builds his tale languorously, peppering it with flashbacks wherever necessary, introducing a ginormous cast of characters that is quite simply put impossible to keep track of and does not necessary simplify the story to ensure the reader follows it. For example, it is neigh impossible to keep track of which team actually won a match or how the series ebbed and flowed. And this was a book originally written in 1993 (if I'm not mistaken) so for anyone under 40, most of the peripheral characters - players or otherwise - are not familiar names, thus keeping track proves to be tricky again. These are again perhaps not details central to the tale Haigh is telling - which is more about the metamorphosis of the game, but it could help put things into a chronological order and give the reader some rails to clutch on to as they build the narrative in their own imagination.
It's also very clearly aimed at an Australian audience (given that most of the key protagonists were Aussie) with references to pop-cultural, political and social events which an outsider will find it difficult to appreciate even with the internet. On more than one occasion I googled a term or phrase Haigh has used and the only relevant result which seemed to come up was from a Google Books listing of this very book! My sense is an that people who've lived through the Packer era (if you can call a 2 year period that) and want to now understand it better with all the backstage machinations of it will enjoy it far more than someone who is looking at an introduction to WSC. Something more suitable for the historians and cricket aficionados than the casual fans.
5 stars for education, 3 stars for readability and entertainment. A Cliff-Notes version of this book may actually sell much better :)
With that context, when I happened to hear about The Cricket War and that it was finally back in print, picked it up without too much thought. The blurb of '50 Greatest Sports Books' by The Times does it no harm. And Gideon Haigh is a familiar name from ESPNCricinfo.
After trawling through it over the best part of a three day weekend, I'm conflicted about how to rate it. It is a meticulously well-researched book - encyclopedic almost in it's level of detail, excruciatingly recreating both boardroom shenanigans as well as on-field drama by referencing hundreds of other books. The 2 year period of 1977 to 1979 is covered in detail in four key parts - how Packer was spruned, how he set up the WSC, the action on the field and how the 'circus' evolved and the eventual truce with it's aftermath and collateral damage. As a cricket fan for over 20 years it told me tons of things I didn't know and wouldn't have associated with Packer - from helmets and rebel tours to the dangerous nature of cricket in that era and how the careers of some past greats better known as commentators and coaches evolved (Tony Greig, Ian Chappell, Bob Woolmer amongst others...). There are parts more related to the world of business than the world of sport, but it would be naive to want to understand the latter without appreciation of the former.
And yet, this is not an easy book to follow or read. Haigh is more a classical 'writer' than a sports journalist (side note -the number of times I needed to check a word's meaning in the dictionary in this book was much much higher than usual). He builds his tale languorously, peppering it with flashbacks wherever necessary, introducing a ginormous cast of characters that is quite simply put impossible to keep track of and does not necessary simplify the story to ensure the reader follows it. For example, it is neigh impossible to keep track of which team actually won a match or how the series ebbed and flowed. And this was a book originally written in 1993 (if I'm not mistaken) so for anyone under 40, most of the peripheral characters - players or otherwise - are not familiar names, thus keeping track proves to be tricky again. These are again perhaps not details central to the tale Haigh is telling - which is more about the metamorphosis of the game, but it could help put things into a chronological order and give the reader some rails to clutch on to as they build the narrative in their own imagination.
It's also very clearly aimed at an Australian audience (given that most of the key protagonists were Aussie) with references to pop-cultural, political and social events which an outsider will find it difficult to appreciate even with the internet. On more than one occasion I googled a term or phrase Haigh has used and the only relevant result which seemed to come up was from a Google Books listing of this very book! My sense is an that people who've lived through the Packer era (if you can call a 2 year period that) and want to now understand it better with all the backstage machinations of it will enjoy it far more than someone who is looking at an introduction to WSC. Something more suitable for the historians and cricket aficionados than the casual fans.
5 stars for education, 3 stars for readability and entertainment. A Cliff-Notes version of this book may actually sell much better :)
July 28, 2018
Picked this up with high hopes to know about the Kerry Packer scandal that hit cricket in the late 1970s and changed cricket forever.
But it turned to be probably the worst book on cricket I have read. Badly written with convoluted sentences, confusing phrases and too many names on each page without any context. It is as though Gideon Haigh cant frame a lucid sentence.
Even skimming through it was a pain. Have removed another book by the author that I had marked as to-read.
But it turned to be probably the worst book on cricket I have read. Badly written with convoluted sentences, confusing phrases and too many names on each page without any context. It is as though Gideon Haigh cant frame a lucid sentence.
Even skimming through it was a pain. Have removed another book by the author that I had marked as to-read.
December 8, 2025
Gideon is one of the finest cricket writers, but the excuse that this has is that it was his first book. The decline of Aussie cricket in terms of Ian going south a bit and Greg being the sole run accumulator and the WSC splitting loyalties until the abrupt end, after which there was a reluctant mix of WSC players and the loyalists brought into the Aussie team, are chronicled reasonably well. That the romantic likes of (late) David Hookes didn't get a chance to learn to play spin bowling at all in "Bombay"-belly-giving India and that the West Indies were the biggest beneficiaries as a consequence of the WSC are also made clear. There's a 90s quasi-imperialist perception at play here with a "dysentery"-dig at Indian hotels not only from Gideon but also from some of the players. As a big non-fan of (late) Tony Greig's "commentary," his role as the influencer and the commercial-chaser leading to his considerable decline brought his shtick to the fore neatly.
As referred to above, the end of it all was an anti-climax, even though I knew the result somewhat in advance. Though stuff like "probably until the 1987 World Cup, however, patriotic one-day defeat was an Australian trait" were barbed remarks, there weren't enough of them. I'm sure the current Gideon would give this a much better context, though in the afterword to the 2007 edition, he says that he didn't deliberately alter his opinions. However, he did have the living presence of Packer then, and there's not enough of Packer in this...
A nice book OTW, but certainly not for beginners.
As referred to above, the end of it all was an anti-climax, even though I knew the result somewhat in advance. Though stuff like "probably until the 1987 World Cup, however, patriotic one-day defeat was an Australian trait" were barbed remarks, there weren't enough of them. I'm sure the current Gideon would give this a much better context, though in the afterword to the 2007 edition, he says that he didn't deliberately alter his opinions. However, he did have the living presence of Packer then, and there's not enough of Packer in this...
A nice book OTW, but certainly not for beginners.
April 17, 2018
I realised I didn’t know enough about the World Series Cricket / Kerry Packer affair so I looked up what I thought would be a definitive account. Sadly, this isn’t that book. At times it’s over written, it’s scope is far too wide and I didn’t find that i know anymore about the story at the end of the book.
There are some good revelations, such as how little Australian Test Cricketers were earning and how they might lose their second jobs if they signed for Packer. But by telling the story from so many points of view, I struggled to get close to any individuals. If Haigh had concentrated on just 3 or 4 individuals and focussed on their roles in the affair, I might have understood the wider implications on other people involved. Instead, at times passages read like lists of players / administrators / journalists / lawyers who become indistinguishable. At points, when a quote is attributed to “Chappell” I had to go back and re read a whole paragraph to find out which of the Chappell brothers Haigh is referring to!
There is a good story to be told, and Haigh is a good writer, but he never gets to the heart of what happened, what motivated people or where they ended up.
There are some good revelations, such as how little Australian Test Cricketers were earning and how they might lose their second jobs if they signed for Packer. But by telling the story from so many points of view, I struggled to get close to any individuals. If Haigh had concentrated on just 3 or 4 individuals and focussed on their roles in the affair, I might have understood the wider implications on other people involved. Instead, at times passages read like lists of players / administrators / journalists / lawyers who become indistinguishable. At points, when a quote is attributed to “Chappell” I had to go back and re read a whole paragraph to find out which of the Chappell brothers Haigh is referring to!
There is a good story to be told, and Haigh is a good writer, but he never gets to the heart of what happened, what motivated people or where they ended up.
January 28, 2021
I found this by accident in the library and thought I'd give it a go. While I thought the details of particular cricket contests between teams and individuals were interesting, I thought the business and politics of cricket promotion were the most interesting aspect of The Cricket War.
Gideon Haigh's extraordinary detail didn't distract me from the story, but every few chapters I had to stop to catch my breath and marvel at the research and the access he got to so many 'inaccessible' people in cricket (the bibliography confirms it). A fascinating insight into so many famous people, including Australia's greatest union leader, Kerry Packer!
Gideon Haigh's extraordinary detail didn't distract me from the story, but every few chapters I had to stop to catch my breath and marvel at the research and the access he got to so many 'inaccessible' people in cricket (the bibliography confirms it). A fascinating insight into so many famous people, including Australia's greatest union leader, Kerry Packer!
February 4, 2019
Perhaps not as overtly entertaining as Christopher Lee's Howzat! but certainly better written and more informative. Yet further evidence that Haigh is well on his way to becoming this generation's poet laureate of cricket writing.
January 12, 2013
A great read for someone who was watching the one day cricket in the early eighties as a young kid unaware of the conflict that preceded it (I was even a little nauseated at every allusion to the players getting paid - wasn't it fun enough just to play?).
Thoroughly researched, unlike a lot of what passes for sports writing. Just because we like ball games doesn't mean we're complete morons...
April 2, 2018
So thorougly researched and meticulously written that the first 80-90 pages became difficult to read. Characters flitted in and out of the narrative with perplexing regularity. But once it got to the actual cricket, Haigh was in his element. The final chapter is more analytical, and should be compulsory reading for all cricket administrators, who must look to the past to understand the present and create the future.
June 8, 2018
Very detailed, very in depth, almost a ball-by-ball telling of the saga.
Some real behind-the-scenes information which gave the saga a real personal element from the players perspective.
Only negative was the reconciliation between the ACB and Packer was quickly brushed over in less than 2-3 pages. After reading pages upon pages of match summaries I was keen to hear more about how it was all resolved, but it wasn't to be.
Some real behind-the-scenes information which gave the saga a real personal element from the players perspective.
Only negative was the reconciliation between the ACB and Packer was quickly brushed over in less than 2-3 pages. After reading pages upon pages of match summaries I was keen to hear more about how it was all resolved, but it wasn't to be.
January 3, 2021
For a book with so much to offer and with as thorough research as it was done in this book, this was a terrible read.
The author seems to have assumed that the readers are well versed with the ongoings of the events in the book. This could have worked when the events occured, but, so far down the decades this presents a laboured read to any current reader in my opinion.
Although, I have seen few 5 stars rating for this book. This book definitely wasn't for me.
April 2, 2023
My first reading experience with Haigh, having enjoyed some of his other work through various media outlets over the years. To be expected, by page 10 we've come across words such as insouciant, paterfamilias, alacrity, talismanic.
Featured more on-field match recaps than I was expecting, perhaps at the expense of what was going on behind the scenes.
Featured more on-field match recaps than I was expecting, perhaps at the expense of what was going on behind the scenes.
May 4, 2023
Great dive into WSC, how it came about, the battles with the ACB as they concurrently run and the how they came together in the end. The legacy of WSC isn’t about what transpired on the cricket pitch but the changes they brought to the way cricket was marketed and how cricket was broadcasted
January 18, 2023
A great book and story told brilliantly.
September 10, 2023
Whatever harm done to game by Packer pales in comparison with the IPL.
February 18, 2024
The best cricket writer in the world currently
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews