archie mac
International Coach
Have you read the cricket war? I heard Haigh interviewed on the radio the other night, and he seemed quite happy with the whole Packer thing.Gideon Haigh and Victor Marks for two. Would have to re-read some other stuff to find some more, though, and that'd involve digging through my loft that I really don't have the time to do.
I don't care whether the players think it was some of the best cricket ever, the fact is there was nothing at stake except Kerry Packer's teams. None of which had any tradition the way long-standing competitions (be it Tests, the Shield or the Championship) had. The standard of play is not the issue.
Chappell retired long before WSC was even conceived, indeed.
It didn't speed it up, though, it made it happen completely differently to how it might have had it been done more gradually.
Chappell retired because lack of money as did Redpath, Mallett, Edwards etc etc etc
Mate they were moving so slowly it would have taken who knows how long, and who knows how many other great Aussie players would have been forced to retire before they were ready, simply because of money