The Cricket War: The Story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket

every thing I hoped for & moreJeff Lewis

Now here's an example of a more interesting Haigh book, where an actual bit of insight and analysis has to go into production.It takes a look at the split that happened when the top-level professional cricketers decided that they were really getting a raw deal from the various cricket boards, who were getting pretty close to all the money, leaving the players with little to show for their sacrifices.Also the rise and rise of sports media, and improvements in coverage, too.3.5 out of 5

Fantastic book of what happened through WSC. I was only just born when WSC was being played so I never saw what happened, but I did grow up to see the results of the modern game. The book highlights who was involved, from both the players and the administrators from both sides. It is funny that the book sat on my bookshelf for 4 years until I began to read it. Highly recommended

I was so excited to read the history of this seismic event in cricket history but it turned out to be a real turgid read. The author expends much energy and time on giving a blow by blow account of the matches and series themselves but considerably less time on the corporate war that was raging on in the background. This was in many respects a fight to the death, or if not death, bankruptcy and yet the author doesn't set this out at all clearly. Perhaps this was a mismatch of expectations on my part. I wanted to hear more about the fight that Kerry Packer was leading against the ACB not the ins and outs of Ian Chappell and his brothers-in-arms as they travel here, there and everywhere. I had little interest in hearing about the state of the pitch at Sabina Park, I wanted to hear about Packer storming the castle of the old administration. The Cricket War lacked clear narrative and it sadly failed to tell in a compelling way how one man changed the way we watch and enjoy cricket forever. Disappointing. To say the least.

I first got to know Haigh's writing from columns in the Guardian, and whilst this is an early work, it is a pleasure to read such a well informed and devoted writer about cricket, who does not treat it with sacred reverence, at book length. The lack of genuflection he has in common with Kerry Packer, the apparent villian of the piece, whose audacious redefining of cricket in the '70s determined the destiny of the game around the world. As Haigh notes, Packer filled his boots at the same time, having worked out the differential between the cost of cricket and its potential in commercial terms with considerable nous.The writing has echoes of the standards of the genre: stats pepper the stories of the matches, but the really interesting part of the narrative is showing the kind of civil war it was. Certainly the main players (and I don't just mean the cricketers) knew each other well, especially by the end when the ACB finally surrendered to the corporates of PBL. The fraternity of cricket clearly transgressed the boundaries the cricket authorities were heavy-handed in attempting to reinforce, and this in itself tells its own tale of inflexible committeemen failing to understand the shape of the game in their stewardship. Personally, being of similar age to Haigh, I relished the recollection of some of the fantastic moments of World Series Cricket, that I was addicted to as a teenager growing up in Australia. As he shows, the world's best cricket was being played in some unusual venues in front of only handfuls of fans (of whom I was often one), but it was the future of cricket, and we all thought so at the time.

'As tough as it gets' is what a lot of the players said about the cricket played the Packer 'circus'. Any cricket lover worthy of the name ought to read this. Really interesting, and an important book about a key three year's in cricket history. And the author went on to become, as he still is, Australia's most highly-regarded cricket writer.

Decent but very heavy going and wordy book about the packer cricket revolution. maybe 100 pages less would have been better...Haigh once ridiculed Dennis Amiss in an article. well Giddy how many times have you played for your country ?

I found it an interesting narrative of an important period in the history of cricket. However, although I was familiar with the names of a number of the characters and players, at times I found it hard to keep track of who or what was going on.