# World Series Cricket Cavaliers XI
The **World Series Cricket Cavaliers XI** was a cricket team formed in 1978 to play in [World Series Cricket](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-series-cricket) (WSC), the professional competition staged by [Kerry Packer](https://www.edgepedia.org/kerry-packer)'s organization between 1977 and 1979. Modeled on the International Cavaliers, the side was intended to give contracted WSC players who seldom appeared for the three principal squads, Australia, the [West Indies](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-indies), and the World XI, steady competitive cricket and the chance to earn prize money.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Match play and prize money for WSC-contracted players not regularly selected for Australia, the West Indies, or the World XI[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Inspiration | The International Cavaliers, an earlier touring and festival team[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Formed | 1978, before the start of the second WSC season[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Country Tour 1978/79 | 9 two-day games and 15 one-day games, scheduled in four blocks[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Record v Australia | Played 5, won 1, lost 2, drawn 1, abandoned 1[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Record v West Indies | Played 9, won 3, lost 5, drawn 1[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
| Record v World XI | Played 10, won 1, lost 7, drawn 1, no result 1[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) |
## Formation and purpose
After the end of the 1977/78 WSC season, Kerry Packer's organization signed a second tranche of players, which left more contracted players than places in the three WSC teams. To compensate those not being selected regularly, a new side was formed in 1978 to undertake a tour of Australia at the same time as the main competition.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
The plan was for the Cavaliers XI to take on each of the other three WSC teams in turn in a series of one-day and two-day games, with whichever team was not playing a Supertest (world Series Cricket's flagship long-form match type) or an International Cup game facing the Cavaliers. This gave fringe players match practice and access to prize money, kept the main teams playing during downtime in the WSC schedule, and brought World Series Cricket to smaller venues around the country rather than restricting it to the major cities.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
## The Country Tour, 1978/79
The tour ran from November 1978 to February 1979 and encompassed 9 two-day games and 15 one-day games in four blocks: three one-day games against each WSC team in [Western Australia](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-australia), a two-week tour of [Queensland](https://www.edgepedia.org/queensland) against the West Indies, a two-week tour of Victoria and [New South Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-south-wales) against Australia, and a final three-week stint against the World XI, again in Victoria and New South Wales. The final game, against the West Indies, was a two-day game in Tasmania.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
Venues were regional grounds such as Bunbury and [Kalgoorlie](https://www.edgepedia.org/kalgoorlie) in Western Australia, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Currumbin, and [Toowoomba](https://www.edgepedia.org/toowoomba) in Queensland, and country centers in [Victoria](https://www.edgepedia.org/victoria-state) and New South Wales including Mildura, Bendigo, Tamworth, Armidale, Orange, Wagga Wagga, and Albury.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
## Results
The Cavaliers won 5 of their 24 completed games on the tour and lost 14, with 3 draws, 1 abandonment, and 1 no result. Their best results came against the West Indies, whom they beat 3 times in 9 games, including a 10-wicket win at Robertson Oval, Wagga Wagga on 24 January 1979, when they reached 168/0 chasing 167.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) Against Australia they won 1 of 5 games, a 72-run victory at Morwell on 24 December 1978 after bowling Australia out for 100.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers) The World XI was their strongest opponent: the Cavaliers won only 1 of 10 games, and their heaviest defeat came at Tamworth on 13-14 January 1979, an innings and 106 runs.[1](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
## Context within World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket was the competition organized by Kerry Packer, owner of Channel 9, after the Australian Cricket Board rejected his offer for exclusive television rights; the WSC name was registered on 16 August 1976 and the venture was made public on 9 May 1977. The conflict with the cricket establishment ended with a rapprochement announced on 30 May 1979, under which Packer received exclusive television rights for international cricket in Australia.[2](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi2b6/programme/week8/packer_cricket_war.pdf) The Cavaliers XI operated during the second season of this conflict, and the tour's country venues reflected WSC's exclusion from the major grounds in 1977-78, when the cricket authorities rebuffed its applications to use them.[2](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi2b6/programme/week8/packer_cricket_war.pdf)
## References
1. [World Series Cricket Cavaliers, Cricket Wiki (Fandom)](https://cricket.fandom.com/wiki/World_Series_Cricket_Cavaliers)
2. [Richard Cashman, "The Packer cricket war", in The Cambridge Companion to Cricket](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi2b6/programme/week8/packer_cricket_war.pdf)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Cricket › Cricket people and teams › Teams and sporting organizations › Historic and invitational teams*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license