The series originated due to two main factors—the widespread view that players were not paid sufficient amounts to make a living from cricket, and that Packer wished to secure the exclusive broadcasting rights to Australian cricket, then held by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
After the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) refused to accept Channel Nine's bid to gain exclusive television rights to Australia's Test matches in 1976, Packer set up his own series by secretly signing agreements with leading players from the national cricket teams of Australia, England, Pakistan, South Africa, and the West Indies.
WSC was unable to call the Australian team "Australia", or use the official rules of cricket, which are copyright of the MCC.
Another of the victories of official cricket was to ban WSC from using the term "Test match".
By winning both matches the WSC World XI qualified for the final.
A crowd of 44,377 attended the first match of the 1978–79 International Cup, under the new floodlights at the SCG.
In 1979, following the tour of New Zealand, the WSC Australians team set off for a more extensive tour to the Caribbean that would encompass five Supertest games and twelve one-day games against the WSC West Indies.