World Series Cricket
Davis was signed by Kerry Packer for World Series Cricket in 1977. As one of the brightest talents in Australia his signature was considered vital for the marketing and success of the brand. In the first year of WSC (1977/78) Davis played 3 Supertests scoring a best of 84 against the World XI. He would play 2 more Supertests in the 1978/79 season scoring just 48 runs (ave. 12). Davis found breaking into the WSC Australian XI just as tough as the official side his path being blocked by McCosker and Bruce Laird. The fact that Davis averaged roughly half as many runs in Supertests as he did in official tests highlights the high level of competition in WSC. It was during the second Supertest that Australian batsman David Hookes suffered a broken jaw from an Andy Roberts bouncer. Packer was said to encourage his bowlers to be aggressive. Traditional cricket followers became shocked by the posteuring and bad-language broadcast via pitch microphones. The highly charged atmosphere and Packer's preference for fast bowling led to many of the WSC stars, including Davis, to wear protective helmets. A piece of cricket equipment Davis would later help develop after retirement.
Davis had more success in the International Cup (the 40 over competition), which is surprising given he was only selected for three official One-Day Internationals. He played in 18 International Cup matches over the two seasons scoring 428 runs (ave. 25.18) with two fifties (top score 69). Davis was selected for the marquee WSC Tour of the West Indies, however the bank he was employed with refused to grant him leave. So Davis missed out on the tour which signalled the end of World Series Cricket after Packer reached a settlement with the cricketing authorities in May 1979.
Read more about this topic: Ian Davis (cricketer)
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