Double Headers

131 season, when two sides called WSC Australia were playing simultaneously (and in one instance their opponents in each case were the WSC World XI). These would become triple-headers if the simultaneous official Tests were also taken into account; they would meet this book’s definition because all three of the home sides were representing Australia, even though only one of them was the team of the country’s official governing body, and only that one bore the simple name ‘Australia’. Here are the details of these three-way near-misses, with the results given from the perspective of the Australian teams: Dates of play Match Venue Type Result December 1977 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 2, 3, 4 2, 3, 4 Australia v India WSC Australia v WSC West Indies WSC Australia v WSC World XI Brisbane Melbourne Rockhampton Official Test WSC SuperTest WSC Country Cup W L L 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 16, 17, 18 16, 17, 18 Australia v India WSC Australia v WSC West Indies WSC Australia v WSC World XI Perth Sydney Canberra Official Test WSC SuperTest WSC Country Cup W L L 30, 31; 2, 3, 4 Jan 31; 1, 2, 3 Jan 31; 1, 2 Jan Australia v India WSC Australia v WSC West Indies WSC Australia v WSC World XI Melbourne Adelaide Geelong Official Test WSC SuperTest WSC Country Cup L W L January 1978 28, 29, 30; 1-3 Feb 27, 28, 29, 30 28, 29 Australia v India WSC Australia v WSC World XI WSC Australia v WSC World XI Adelaide Perth Hamilton Official Test WSC SuperTest WSC Country Cup W L W For WSC’s second home season, 1978/79, the idea of coinciding the SuperTests with the official Tests (against England) was dropped. The three-day games were also dropped from WSC’s minor competitions. Thus there was no potential for any near-miss double- or triple-headers in Australia in 1978/79. But the position elsewhere was different. The official West Indies Test side toured India and Sri Lanka between December 1978 and February 1979, at the same time as WSC West Indies were involved in ‘Packer matches’, first in Australia, and later back home in the Caribbean. Although Test and SuperTest dates were not chosen deliberately to coincide or overlap, there were two occasions when they did so, and a third when the official West Indies side was playing a first-class match against Sri Lanka (not yet a Test-playing nation) at the same time as their WSC counterparts were involved in a SuperTest elsewhere. So again, these three instances would have been bona fide double-headers if the WSC matches were rated as first-class. Here are the three instances, with the results this time given from the perspective of the West Indian teams: A final batch of near misses