In the mid 90s Australian cricket appeared to be in rude health. The ghosts of World Series and Rebel tours were long gone, and the national team was nearing its ascent to the top of Test cricket which it would sit astride for more than a decade.

Its playing stocks had been rehabilitated after the 80s crisis in an expanded fashion, the national cricket academy generating a slew of international-ready youngsters sitting below the top team more advanced than ever before.

But off the field the changes were just as important. Heading into 1994-95 the ACB had broken the shackles of its 14 season long marriage to Kerry Packer’s PBL, owner of Channel 9.

The World Series Cricket compromise has brought with it the, in retrospect, grossly one-sided deal that saw the ACB sign away all marketing and promotional rights to PBL. The terms of the deal assumed that PBL would be the more credentialed partner to run most things except pick the team, and even then many thought they had an influence on that too. And this without mentioning the obvious conflict of interest when they were also the TV rights holder.

When the deal was finally consigned to history the ACB wanted to show that it could market this team with a bunch of new superstars to the Australian public and it also wanted to make sure Channel 9 was still getting its money worth from the increased cheque they were paying.

The season ahead though wasn’t the most mouther watering, the England team at its lowest ebb and the lowly Zimbabwe joining them for the one day World Series Cup – something that had been most popular form of the game for television and crowds over those 14 years.

That’s when the ACB decided to use its new license to be creative.

For just one season they created a monster that would showcase a group of champions of the future, change the dynamics between the newly appointed Australian captain and the ACB, and capture the imagination of a generation of young fans who 25 years on still revel in the memories of Australia A.

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