Cricket Outlaws: Inside Kerry Packer's World Series Revolution

In the summer of 1977-78 Kerry Packer changed professional sport forever.

Under a cloak of secrecy, the Aussie tycoon - together with maverick TV comics Paul Hogan and John 'strop' Cornell, elite players Dennis Lillee, Tony Greig and Ian Chappell, and retired footy hero Austin Robertson - signed up 35 of the world's leading cricketers for a revolution called 'World Series Cricket'.

Suddenly, the gentleman's game had four outlaw teams playing 'Supertests' and 50-over games at night under lights in crash helmets, using white balls and wearing coloured clothing. Slowly, then in a torrent, fans fell under the spell of day-night cricket airwaves jingling to 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' and supercharged TV coverage led by Richie Benaud.

In the middle of this maelstrom was Austin Robertson: trusted lieutenant to Packer, and confidant to cricket's biggest stars.

In Cricket Outlaws, Austin shares the real story of the Worls Series Cricket revolution for the first time - from the inside, in his own words and with vivid first-hand accounts from 48 of the game's biggest characters and key players behind the scenes, many speaking publicly on WSC for the first time.

Austin Robertson, was already a West Australian sporting god - his 1278 goal pile still stands as a record in the WAFL - when Kerry Packer whispered in his ear and sent him off to secretly sign 35 top international players to form the outlaw armies of WSC's rebel cricket circus of 1977-78. He went on to become the manager of Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne and a successful author and publisher with Swan Publishing. Austin was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2015. He lives in Perth.

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