World Series Cricket, television and Australian culture

This study examines how changes in Australian culture, society and television interfaced with changes within the cricket world to produce the World Series Cricket era. It establishes that while television is more a vehicle for change in the sporting world than its cause, and operates within predetermined societal boundaries, it also exerts pressure against such parameters in an attempt to shape the viewer's experience.;The conflict between the Australian Cricket Board and World Series Cricket erupted as a result of forces both external and internal to the cricket world. Emerging liberal influences coalesced with a changing social composition to create a heightened national conciousness, especially in the sport world. Similarly Australia was not immuned from international events at this time. Changing attitudes towards leisure and expectations of entertainment gave rise to a sport environment that was receptive to entreprenurial capital.;Yet WSC was not simply a product of forces external to the cricket world. Since the middle of the nineteenth century Australian cricket had exhibited a commercial overtone which this was constantly opposed once organising administrative bodies were put in place. Furthermore a lack of rapport between such administrators and the athletes has been an ongoing feature of cricket's development since the control of the game shifted away from the players. Finally the traditionalist cricket mentality was rigidly adhered to in Australian cricket even though by the 1970s it was out of step with societal values.;WSC and the growth of commercially televised sport in Australian society is endemic with conflict and as such is indicative of the forces of the era. However it is also illustrative of continuity and growth and the ability of the Australian society to be pragmatic, to utilise and replicate the success of others and to merge the old with the new in order to facilitate cultural progression. WSC demonstrates how institutions provide the link between the past and the future and how conflict is responded to and incorporated within society to provide continuity. Elements of both conflict and continuity coexisted to create the cultural context for World Series Cricket. WSC was simply a product of its time.