WSC was loathed by the establishment, but at length became popular with cricket followers. WSC and the establishment warred for two years, at stadiums and in court, before negotiating a truce in which Packer's company became cricket's official broadcaster. Effectively, it still is.

The cricket was of a high standard. Dennis Lillee was one of several who recalled it as the hardest cricket of his career. He took 79 wickets in 24 Super Tests, which now will sit beside his 355 Test wickets. There will also be 20 more entries of "c Marsh b Lillee" on the register.

Several South Africans, then banned from international cricket, played, among them Barry Richards, who averaged nearly 80 in WSC. It was the only international cricket he played outside his four Tests. "Sooo right!!" Richards wrote on Facebook of CA's decision to formalise his WSC exploits. "Hardest I played! Encouraging all other boards to recognize." But at this stage, only Australia has moved.

The idea of embracing WSC was approved at a CA meeting last month. Among the first to learn of it, and to welcome it, were the Chappell brothers, Greg and Ian, leading lights of the time.

Immediately, a question arose about the status of a series of matches Australia payed against the Rest of the World in 1971-72, hastily arranged to replace a planned South African tour that had to be aborted because of simmering unrest about apartheid. Those matches do not have official status in the players' records.