Should World Series Cricket records be added to Test records or First Class records?

[Johan]

I think most Cricket fans are aware of Kerry Packer's world series Cricket, and how all the guys who played in it imply it was some of the toughest Cricket they ever played. While many have pointed out how general level of toughness is never enough for something to be considered equivalent to official Test Cricket, for example a game of West Indies vs Yorkshire would not be considered on the same level as a game between West Indies and Sri Lanka, even if the prior is a much better attack, and more importantly WSC is biased against some blatant parts of the game such as spin bowling, slow batting and medium pacers.

Should WSC records be added to their test records, their FC records or just kept separate from either?

 

[vidiq]

I think most Cricket fans are aware of Kerry Packer's world series Cricket, and how all the guys who played in it imply it was some of the toughest Cricket they ever played. While many have pointed out how general level of toughness is never enough for something to be considered equivalent to official Test Cricket, for example a game of West Indies vs Yorkshire would not be considered on the same level as a game between West Indies and Sri Lanka, even if the prior is a much better attack, and more importantly WSC is biased against some blatant parts of the game such as spin bowling, slow batting and medium pacers.

Should WSC records be added to their test records, their FC records or just kept separate from either?

Wsc was The Old version of WTC?

 

[Johan]

Wsc was The Old version of WTC?

World Series Cricket - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[subshakerz]

Should be separate but equal.

 

[vidiq]

It was similar to ipl where all World class players played together,
So just like IPL> T20 international (in terms of competition)
It should also be consider as more comparative than normal test cricket.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

If 'Smokers vs Non-Smokers' was given FC status, then yeah, WSC should be given FC status at the very least...

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Aussie Rugby League fans, do Super League stats count the same for statistical purposes compared to ARL/NRL games? A quick Wiki search indicates that this time Packer was on the other side of the war which I find quite funny

 

[kyear2]

The numbers change so very little, but it's volume and production for those couple of years where it's a void otherwise.

And if the actual scrub "test" stats count, so should these.

 

[kyear2]

To think that these are no more than FC stats is just stupid. It was the actual test teams for 2 countries and the best of the rest formed the 3rd team.

 

[Starfighter]

No. They were games organised in defiance of the cricketing authorities of the respective countries. The correct analogy is the ICL.

 

[Prince EWS]

Aussie Rugby League fans, do Super League stats count the same for statistical purposes compared to ARL/NRL games? A quick Wiki search indicates that this time Packer was on the other side of the war which I find quite funny

They do but sometimes with an asterisk.

 

[TheJediBrah]

So just like IPL> T20 international (in terms of competition)

Wut

 

[ataraxia]

It's always been really vindictive of the ICC to not give these games FC status. I hope that changes.

 

[Xix2565]

FC games at best, though to be honest it's all Australia's fault when it comes down to which old games were Tests/FC and which weren't.

 

[Qlder]

Despite their high quality, WSC games do not meet the Test match criteria of being selected by the governing body of an ICC full member country (they were selected by Packer).

They do however meet the ICC criteria for first class cricket if the governing body of the country the games were played in deems them to be FC.

I understand why they refused to make WSC games FC at the time, but given the high level of cricket played under the exact same rules as the ICC they should reverse that. It would be as simple as CA and WICB deciding to recognize them retrospectively (with subsequent ICC approval due to time since played)

 

[Chin Music]

I have a problem of certain test matches of the last few years being counted in the statistics when you think about NZ v SA last year, when the latter played what wasn't really even a 2nd XI while their first choice players were all playing their t20 domestic tournament. Then there was Windies v Bangladesh back in around 2009, I think. Again, there should be a huge asterisk against those stats.

 

[chris.hinton]

I think most Cricket fans are aware of Kerry Packer's world series Cricket, and how all the guys who played in it imply it was some of the toughest Cricket they ever played. While many have pointed out how general level of toughness is never enough for something to be considered equivalent to official Test Cricket, for example a game of West Indies vs Yorkshire would not be considered on the same level as a game between West Indies and Sri Lanka, even if the prior is a much better attack, and more importantly WSC is biased against some blatant parts of the game such as spin bowling, slow batting and medium pacers.

Should WSC records be added to their test records, their FC records or just kept separate from either?

Keep them has it is, I don't think there is any issue

 

[Line and Length]

The problem with not having them recognised as tests is that many cricket followers overlook these games when discussing ATGs in Test cricket.

 

[shortpitched713]

The problem with not having them recognised as tests is that many cricket followers overlook these games when discussing ATGs in Test cricket.

They're not really Tests though, more high level exhibitions. I think they certainly should be given First Class status, and anyone who knows anything about the history of the game will not be overlooking them.

 

[Line and Length]

They're not really Tests though, more high level exhibitions. I think they certainly should be given First Class status, and anyone who knows anything about the history of the game will not be overlooking them.

While I agree with most of what you say, there is a younger generation of cricket followers who may not be fully aware of some of the performances in WSC. For example, Dennis Lillee is often underrated when his performances against the likes of Richards (Viv and Barry), Greenidge, Lloyd etc are overlooked. We also see Barry Richards 'downgraded' because of his limited Test appearances, yet his batting average (79.14) against an ATG Windies attack (not to mention Lillee) can't be ignored.