PACKER
MELBOURNE, (AP):
KERRY PACKER is being eulogised as one of the greats of cricket, despite turning the establishment upside down in the 1970s and never playing at first-class level.
Tributes flowed from cricket's administrators, commentators and elite players yesterday for Packer, whose World Series Cricket concept revolutionised the sport and gave it mass-market appeal.
Packer, Australia's richest man, died late on Monday at his Sydney home. He was 68.
WORLD OWES SO MUCH
Shane Warne, the most successful bowler in Test cricket and a close friend of the media tycoon for 13 years, said: "Everyone involved in world cricket owes (Packer) so much."
Warne and his Australian teammates wore black armbands on day two of the second Test against South Africa in Melbourne.
Players from both teams stood for a minute of silence before play.
Packer introduced night play, a white ball and coloured uniforms and gave limited-overs cricket wide exposure to a TV audience that was tiring of Test match coverage - which could last days without producing a winner.
Originally shunned by cricket administrators and derided for what some dubbed 'pajama cricket' when he launched his World Series in 1977, Packer became one of the game's biggest powerbrokers.
ENDURING INFLUENCE
International Cricket Council president (ICC) Ehsan Mani said Packer had an undeniably enduring influence on the sport.
"Very few people in the history of the game, either players or administrators, can be said to have changed the game, but Kerry Packer can rightly be considered someone who did just that," Mani said in a statement.
WSC "took the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged it into the modern era and although, at the time, many people had reservations, the current healthy state of our sport shows how wise he was".
Cricket Australia chairman Creagh O'Connor said Packer "stood alongside Sir Donald Bradman as one of the giants who have influenced the shape of Australian cricket". "That cricket is today taken for granted as a natural part of the Australian way of life is in no small measure due to his influence. The so-called 'Packer revolution' in the 1970s has left a lasting legacy in the way the game is played, administered and presented to the public."
Forbes magazine this year ranked Packer as the 94th richest man in the world with a US$5 billion fortune.
Packer's media and gambling empire was Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., which owns the Nine television network, Australia's cricket broadcaster.
His other business holdings and investments included casinos, petrochemicals, heavy engineering, ski resorts, rural properties, diamond exploration and coal mines.
Packer created a stir when he recruited many of the leading Australian and international cricketers to play in WSC, as well as respected retired players to work as commentators.
Two years later, he agreed a truce with cricket administrators in exchange for TV rights and the game in Australia has flourished since.
TRUE PIONEER
Richie Benaud, a former Australian captain who is now one of the most senior cricket commentators in the world, said Packer was a true pioneer and philanthropist.
Tony Greig, a former England captain and key player in the WSC, said Packer's influence could never be properly measured.
"Cricket the world over, I don't think, will ever know how different things would be without Kerry Packer."
Packer's family released a statement announcing his death via the Nine network yesterday morning. No cause of death or funeral details have been published.
