ICL is not the first attempt by cricketers to try to take advantage of their earning potential. One attempt was the World Series Cricket organized by Kerry Packer. Like the ICL, players who participated in the World Series were banned from international cricket. However, after two seasons of various matches (Supertests and one-day matches), there was a rapprochement and former WSC players returned back to their teams. 

WSC popularized one-day cricket to the detriment of Test cricket. It also showed how money can be made from cricket. The day-night matches in the WSC have become quite popular now throughout the cricketing world. Colored clothing was also introduced during this period.

While WSC was simply competitive capitalism in action, the other example of cricketers ignoring their national body’s directives was despicable. These were the rebel tours to South Africa during the 1980s.  There were tours from England, Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The last was the most surprising as South Africa was in throes of apartheid at that time. Most players who went to South Africa were banned for life, and that was the end of many careers. 

The South African tours were bad, but the fact remains that many cricketers who went there were ready to throw away their ambitions for an entire career for a few pieces of silver. If cricket had provided more profitable opportunities for them at both international and national level, these tours would not have attracted the talent that they did.