1970s Cricket and Australia
1970s was a changing decade for cricket with the introduction of Kerry Packers World Series Cricket, the first consistent use of the cricket helmet and racisms towards certain teams such as South Africa and the West Indies. The cricketing world changed when Kerry Packer offered players financial incentive to play in a World Series Cricket competition. The World Series cricket competition was intended to be a fast paced, limited over game of cricket. The old traditional view of cricket changed, such as when it was played it, what they where allowed to wear and how long it went for. The players where allowed to wear colourful uniforms and the game was sometimes played at night. The rising success for Kerry Packer; Channel 9 sport, cricketing world and cricket audiences occurred when the top players from around the world chose to play for their countries in 1975. Before World Series Cricket all the players where amateurs, after this it became a profession for players. In the 1970s cricket helmets were introduced for players as a result of the speed that some of the bowlers could bowl, especially DK Lillie and Jeff Thompson. The helmet was considered a safety precaution due to some severe injuries and potential death when being hit in the head with the ball. The first person to wear the helmet was Graham Yallop who played for Australia in 1978, but the person publicized it was Dennis Amiss who wore it at the W.S.C. Racism surfaced as a huge problem in the 1970s with protest against teams like the West Indies and South Africa playing in Australia.
Influences from the United States or United Kingdom
In the 1970s America influenced cricket in a many ways. Australian Cricket started to be presented in a completely new way due to American influence and their technologies. Advances in communications technology in Australia and around the world accelerated this. Television was starting to become more modern and World Series Cricket was starting to be shown on TV due to Kerry Packer Media influence through channel 9. Many Australian sporting matches including cricket began to feature American-style sporting entertainment, such as football games where players and the crowd were boosted by cheerleaders and mascots. The World Series Cricket tournament was inspired by American baseball. It featured brightly clad players, night games and shorter match times - all designed to appeal to a modern television audience. Australian sport, particularly cricket had been influenced by the British since the settlement of Australia. Britain and Australia had a strong sport connection, rivalry and level of competition through cricket, particularly test matches like ‘the Ashes’. These games were considered the traditional and only version of true cricket and initially the new shorter format of World Series cricket was not well received, as it didn’t reflect ‘traditional cricket’. Originally players were forbidden to play, and then they were removed from test matches, England participated in in the late 1970’s after much publicity.
Links to Australia's identity
Sport and in particular cricket has been big part of the Australian identity since the British colonised of Australia when they brought there animals, sport, beliefs and way of life to Australia. Australian cricket in the 1970s influenced Australia in a number of ways, it inspiring new forms of sporting entertainments such as the World Series cricket and how it was short and more fast paced, that it was broadcasted on television, it was played in both night and day and that they wore coloured outfits. The new form of cricket helped the identity of Australia because it allowed the family to watch the cricket on the TV. This visual publicity helped inspirer children to play cricket. Cricket being broadcast on TV helped people to enjoy it, understand and be entertained by cricket, whereas before they would listen to it on the radio and games would take days to conclude. This helped promote public interest, foster a love for sport and help shape the Australia identity as a sports loving nation.