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The Australian and South African teams observed a minute's
silence before the resumption of play in their test
match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground while former players,
administrators and politicians paid their respects.
Cricket Australia's current chairman, Creagh O'Connor,
said Packer's influence on Australian cricket could
be rivalled only by Donald Bradman, the sport's greatest
batsman.
''The so-called 'Packer revolution' in the 1970s has
left a lasting legacy in the way the game is played,''
O'Connor said in a statement.
''One-day international cricket is now an international
phenomena as a result of Kerry Packer.''
Packer, who was 68, revolutionised the sport when
he established World Series Cricket in the late 1970s
and the game has never been the same since.
Annoyed that his attempts to buy the exclusive television
rights to broadcast test cricket in Australia were turned
down, Packer decided to take on the establishment.
He poached some of the best international players
to form his own competition comprised of three teams
from Australia, West Indies and the Rest of the World.
His initial ''supertests'' failed to capture the imagination
of the public, despite the high standard of cricket,
but his pioneering promotion of one-day cricket was
an instant success.
Australia's richest man had six floodlight towers
built around the Sydney Cricket Ground so matches could
be played at night.
A white ball, black sight-screens and coloured clothing
were introduced. The establishment scoffed at Packer's
ideas, but the crowds loved it and voted with their
feet.
The first day-night match was staged at the SCG on
November 28, 1978. World Series Cricket officials had
hoped for 20,000 spectators but around 50,000 poured
in to the famous old ground to celebrate an Australian
win.
It was clear that he was on to a winner and by the
time he reached a truce in the following year with the
game's authorities, the players returned as highly-paid
professionals, while Packer got the television rights
he wanted and millions of people who had never been
interested in cricket were suddenly transfixed by the
game.
Limited-overs cricket is now the most popular version
of the game and night matches are common in most of
the major playing nations.
''Cricketers the world over I don't think will ever
know how different things could have been without Kerry
Packer,'' he said.
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