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.
