Editing Ian Chappell (section)

===Rebel skipper===
Throughout his career, Chappell found the ACB obdurate in his attempts to make a living from the game. In 1969 and 1970, they refused his applications to play professionally in England.<ref>Harte (1993), p 519.</ref> As Australian captain, he made several unsuccessful representations at ACB meetings in an effort to secure a more realistic financial deal for the Australian players.<ref name=ABCTV/> In consultations with the then-president of the [[Australian Council of Trade Unions|ACTU]], [[Bob Hawke]], he explored the possibility of unionising the players.<ref>Harte (1993), p 561.</ref>

Approached to lead an Australian team in [[World Series Cricket]] (WSC), a breakaway professional competition organised by [[Kerry Packer]] for Channel Nine, Chappell signed a three-year contract worth A$75,000 in 1976.<ref>Mallett (2005), p 156.</ref> His participation was, "fundamental to the credibility of the enterprise".<ref name=Cashman/> Chappell devised the list of Australian players to be signed, and was involved in the organisation and marketing of WSC.<ref name=ABCTV/> His central role was the result of, "years of personal disaffection with cricket officialdom",<ref name=CricinfoProfile/> in particular [[Don Bradman]]. Recently, Chappell wrote:
<blockquote>While captaining Australia, I was approached on three separate occasions before WSC to play 'professional' cricket, and each time I advised the entrepreneurs to meet the appropriate cricket board because they controlled the grounds. On each occasion, the administrators sent the entrepreneurs packing and it quickly became clear they weren't interested in a better deal for the players.

That's why I say the players didn't stab the ACB in the back. The administrators had numerous opportunities to reach a compromise but displayed little interest in the welfare of the players. It wasn't really surprising then that more than 50 players from around the world signed lucrative WSC contracts and a revolution was born. About half of the WSC players were from Australia and this high ratio can, in part, be attributed to Bradman's tight-fisted approach to the ACB's money.<ref name=Bulletin/></blockquote>

In WSC's debut season of 1977–78, Chappell hit the first Supertest century and finished fifth in overall averages.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/AUS/World_Series_Cricket_Supertests_1977-78/Batting_by_Average.html Cricket Archive: WSC Supertests 1977–78.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711030639/https://cricketarchive.com/subscribe |date=11 July 2024 }} Retrieved 13 November 2007.</ref> The prevalence of short-pitched fast bowling and a serious injury to Australian [[David Hookes]] led to the innovation of batting helmets; Chappell was one of the many batsmen to use one. Following their 1975–76 tour of Australia, the West Indies adopted a four-man fast bowling attack, while the World XI contained fast bowlers of the calibre of [[Imran Khan]], [[Mike Procter]], [[Garth Le Roux]], [[Clive Rice]] and [[Sarfraz Nawaz]]. The constant diet of pace bowling undermined the confidence of some batsmen during WSC. Chappell's form fell away during the second season and he scored only 181 runs at 25.85 in four Supertests.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/AUS/World_Series_Cricket_Supertests_1978-79/Batting_by_Average.html Cricket Archive: WSC Supertests 1978–79.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231235/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/AUS/World_Series_Cricket_Supertests_1978-79/Batting_by_Average.html |date=3 March 2016 }} Retrieved 13 November 2007.</ref> During the last six days of the season, the WSC Australians lost the finals of both the limited-overs competition (to the West Indies XI) and the Supertest series (to the World XI), thus forfeiting the winner-takes-all prize money. After the latter match, Chappell vented his frustrations on World XI captain [[Tony Greig]] by refusing to shake his hand and criticising Greig's inconsequential contribution to his team's victory.<ref>Haigh (1993), pp 255–256.</ref> The final act of the competition was a series between the WSC Australians and the WSC West Indies played in the Caribbean in the spring of 1979. After the Australians suffered a heavy defeat in the first Supertest at [[Sabina Park|Jamaica]], Chappell rallied his team to draw the five match series one-all. His best effort were scores of 61 and 86 at [[Kensington Oval|Barbados]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/1967826.stm BBC Sport: Supertest results.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711040614/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/1967826.stm |date=11 July 2024 }} Retrieved 13 November 2007.</ref>