Australian cricket team in West Indies in 1977–78
| Australian cricket team in the West Indies in 1977–78 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
| West Indies | Australia | ||
| Dates | 17 February 1978 – 3 May 1978 | ||
| Captains | Clive Lloyd | Bob Simpson | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | West Indies won the 5-match series 3–1 | ||
| Most runs | Alvin Kallicharran (408) | Graeme Wood (474) | |
| Most wickets | Joel Garner (13) | Jeff Thomson (20) | |
| One Day International series | |||
| Results | 2-match series drawn 1–1 | ||
| Most runs | Desmond Haynes (148) | Gary Cosier (84) | |
| Most wickets | Joel Garner (3) |
Ian Callen (4) Jeff Thomson (4) |
|
The Australian cricket team toured the West Indies in the 1977–78 season to play a five-match Test series against the West Indies. The tour also encompassed a pair of One Day Internationals, plus six tour matches against the West Indies' first class sides.
The West Indies won the test series 3–1 with one match drawn. The West Indies therefore regained the Sir Frank Worrell Trophy which had been lost in 1968. They would hold this trophy against Australia until 1995.
The furore over World Series Cricket had led the ACB to refuse to consider for selection to the national team any Australian player that had signed up to WSC. The West Indies Cricket Board took a different view, and chose a number of their players from those signed to the Kerry Packer organisation for the first two games. This led to the West Indies easily beating the tourists to take a 2–0 lead in the series. However, in the lead up to the 3rd Test in Guyana, the WICB made a decision to leave out three of their WSC contracted players, ostensibly to allow others a chance to play in test matches prior to the West Indies' tour to India and Sri Lanka later in the year, which would be at a time that World Series Cricket could not guarantee the availability of their West Indian players. The non-selection of these three players led to the resignation of Clive Lloyd as captain, and all of the WSC contracted West Indian players to declare themselves unavailable for the rest of the series. Australia won the 3rd Test, but lost the 4th. Australia were on track to win the 5th Test but the crowd rioted and the game had to be called off early.
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