History of Australian cricket from 1970–71 to 1985

This article is part of a series on the history of Australian cricket; it covers the period from the 1970–71 season until 1985. Notable Australian players during this period include brothers Ian and Greg Chappell, Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Doug Walters.

The key event in this period was the advent of World Series Cricket, which ran from 1977 to 1979.

Western Australia had a very strong team during this period when they won the Sheffield Shield seven times.

Ray Illingworth captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1970–71, playing as England in the 1970-71 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. They had a successful tour, but an acrimonious one as Illingworth's team often argued with their own management and the Australian umpires. When they arrived the Australian selector Neil Harvey called them "rubbish". and others labelled them "Dad's Army" because of the seniority of the players, whose average age was over 30, but these experienced veterans beat the younger Australian team. They are the only touring team to play a full Test series in Australia without defeat.

New Zealand took part in the V&G Knockout Cup, a limited overs competition for the Australian state teams. New Zealand were defeated in the semi-final by Western Australia.

A Rest of the World cricket team captained by Gary Sobers toured Australia in the 1971–72 season and played a total of 16 matches. The World XI played five matches against Australia but these were not ranked as Test matches. The team played three limited overs internationals against Australia and the remaining games were first-class fixtures against each of the Australian state teams.

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