Packer's one-day legacy lingers on

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) At a tribute dinner 24 hours before retiring from international cricket in early 1994, Australia captain Allan Border reflected on the changes he had witnessed during two turbulent decades.

''I'm quite indebted to Kerry Packer for his involvement and for giving cricket a good kick up the backside,'' Border said.

''In a strange way he is responsible for my being here tonight.

Who knows where we would all have ended up without that impetus?'' A generation earlier the mention of Packer's name at an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) dinner would have guaranteed outrage, expulsion and possible excommunication for the miscreant.

Now, 30 years after the late media billionaire's breakaway World Series Cricket split the cricketing world, one-day cricket remains essentially the game forged in those two distant Australian summers.

During World Series cricket day-night matches were introduced with a white leather ball instead of the traditional red. Because of the difficulty of sighting the ball against white clothing, coloured uniforms were designed, including a fetching pink for a singularly unimpressed West Indies side.

Packer's Channel Nine put cameras all round the grounds and, in a short-lived experiment, placed microphones in the stumps before the Australians' salty language forced a hasty rethink. In another startling innovation, pitches nurtured in glasshouses were dropped into Australian Rules grounds after the ACB refused permission to use the traditional test venues.

AUDACIOUS VENTURE Packer launched his audacious venture after the ACB had again turned down his bid to televise test cricket instead of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Although he paraded an unprecedented array of top players, including nearly all the current Australia and West Indies sides, spectators stayed away from the five-day so-called Super Tests, preferring a consistently entertaining series between the official Australia side and India.

A day-night one-day match on Nov. 28, 1978, at the Sydney Cricket Ground proved a defining moment. Packer had successfully negotiated a deal to play at the ground, rated second only to Lord's in fans' affections, and installed six floodlight towers.

Around 50,000 spectators crammed into the SCG to watch Australia beat West Indies, a noisy, excited crowd revelling in the sensation of watching cricket under lights on a hot Sydney night.

MORE REUTERS AY KN1005