Household names like Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh, Greg Chappell and Doug Walters were missing from Australia's line-up for the first Test against India at The Gabba in late 1977.

The quartet had signed with Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket league, along with many other Test regulars.

Australian selectors dug deep into the Sheffield Shield and six players made their debuts in Brisbane, including West Australian paceman Wayne Clark.

"I got a phone call from someone at the WACA to say I'd be off to Brisbane to play in the first Test," Clark told ABC Sport.

"I got an offer for World Series Cricket and I actually knocked that back.

"I'd spoken to the (Australian Cricket Board) officials prior to that Test match so I had a fair idea that I was going to be selected.

"It was a pretty daunting time with everything that was going on."

World Series Cricket was held in Australia between 1977 and 1979 and offered lucrative deals for the players. 

There were "Supertests" against the West Indies and Rest of the World teams, as well as innovations like day-night games and colourful clothing. It was shown on Packer's Nine Network.

"I was very tempted but at the time it was a bit of a security thing, I had a young kid," Clark said.

"I sat down with my wife and weighed up all the pros and cons.

"I knew that if I got picked (for World Series Cricket) I wouldn't have been in the top 12 or anything like that, you'd be playing in different places.

"In the long run I suppose they played for two years and got paid for four but I've never ever regretted it.

"Playing for Australia was just something that I really wanted to do and I just wasn't prepared to put everything at stake by going to the World Series."

One star player World Series Cricket didn't have yet was Jeff Thomson. With his unique sling shot action, "Thommo" was widely regarded as the world's fastest bowler and he shared the new ball with Clark against India.

"To be at the other end with Thommo, I'd faced him and I knew how scary it was," Clark said.

"I come on and they try and belt the hell out of you, that was the way I'd see it so I thought it was going to be an advantage.

"His attitude to the whole thing was absolutely fantastic to all the young blokes.

"The way he went about it I could only compliment him for what he did for the group."

Thomson had a reputation for wanting to see blood on the pitch but didn't encourage Clark to adopt a similar philosophy.

"I think that would've been a little pointless at my pace," Clark said.

Former captain Simpson earns a shock recall

Batter, occasional spinner and former Test skipper Bob Simpson had retired from international cricket in 1968 but the 41-year-old was brought back to captain the Test team.

"I suppose it was a bit of a surprise," Clark said.

"He was quite supportive, tactically he was very good.

"The question was how was he going to perform — and he was leading run-scorer (539) in the series.

"He covered all bases."

Fears that the official Tests would be overshadowed by World Series Cricket proved unfounded as an enthralling series against India captivated the public.

Spin great Bishan Bedi led a full strength India, which featured legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar and other accomplished batters like Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amarnath.

Clark took four wickets in each innings as Australia won the first Test by 16 runs.

"It was a good bunch of blokes, young fellas who saw it as an opportunity, they were really keen to show what they were worth and it turned out to be a magnificent series, it was a really close one all the way through," Clark said.

"A lot of guys went on in the future from getting that opportunity."

At the WACA, Simpson made an epic 176 as his team won another close contest by two wickets. Australia had a two-nil lead in the five match series.

"India's pace attack wasn't suited to the conditions here, there wasn't any express pace," Clark said.

"Their spin bowling and batting was top class.

"Gavaskar failed a couple of times but there were always a couple of hundreds in there as well.

"I had a good run against him early."

The Indians fight back late in the series

Clark took another eight wickets in the MCG Test which started in late December and stretched into the new year. However, a Gavaskar century and 12 wickets to leg-spinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar helped India to a 222-run win.

The tourists then played three spinners at the SCG and they took 16 wickets between them as Bedi's men won by an innings and two runs. 

The series was level at two-all and it would be winner takes all in Adelaide. 

Australian selectors wielded the axe and brought in four debutants. Among those to receive a new Baggy Green cap was 20-year-old opening batter Rick Darling, who hailed from the small South Australian Riverland town of Ramco.

"I was at the local water ski beach having a ski and first thing I knew was dad came down in the ute in a cloud of dust and was yelling out from the other side of the river 'come over here, get to Adelaide and play in the fifth Test'", Darling told ABC Sport.

"I didn't have too much time to prepare, we had practice the next day and then it was the start of the Test the day after that."

The combined age of Darling and his opening partner and fellow debutant Graeme Wood (21) was still less than Simpson, who turned 42 during the fifth Test.

The right-handed Darling described Simpson as a "great mentor", who made it clear that no one in the Australian 11 would suffer from an inferiority complex while playing under his leadership.

"Under his instructions nobody mentioned the other team (in World Series Cricket) or how they were going," Darling said.

"He was insistent that we were the team now, we were representing Australia and people should respect us."

Darling and Wood combined for an 89-run partnership to give Australia a strong start to the deciding test. Darling made 65 as the home team piled on 505 in the first innings — but things could have been different.

"I often have nightmares about that first innings," Darling said.

"It may have been first ball, Karsan Ghavri bowled a short one, I went back to hook it, I didn't really get hold of it, I skied it in the air down to fine leg.

"Fortunately the fine leg fieldsman ran the other way, he must've lost his bearings."

Clark took another four wicket haul as India made a modest 269 in its first innings. 

Darling top scored with 56 in Australia's second innings as the tourists were set a massive 493 for victory. India had never beaten Australia in a Test series but edged closer to the target with half-centuries from Amarnath, Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath and Syed Kirmani.

But the new-look Australian team held its nerve.

Appropriately, Simpson took the final wicket to give his team a 47-run win and a three-two series victory.

"It was fantastic, it was hard fought the whole way," Clark said.

"It wasn't until very late that we were able to get on top and finish it off.

"They were getting pretty close and we were getting pretty nervous.

"It was pretty exciting times and we thought as a group we'd performed well and we were pretty satisfied with the whole result."

With the series over, the fierce competition was replaced by warm respect as the Indians spent time in the Australian dressing room.

"We'd sit with the opposition players and have a good chat and you got to know these people," Darling said.

"Sunil Gavaskar, I was in awe of him.

"Rubbing shoulders with these players for me as a 20-year-old was a big buzz."

Peace brings a slow end to the replacement team

Clark was Australia's leading wicket-taker for the series with 28. 

A significant Test career beckoned but so did the prospect of the star players returning to the team when World Series Cricket and the Australian Cricket Board found common ground in 1979.

"I was always hoping that cricket would reunite," Clark said.

"I had confidence in my own ability but it was just getting the opportunity and I think I proved a point to a degree.

"I went to the West Indies (in 1978) and started off well but then I had trouble with my back and then there were other issues, political issues that got involved.

"As it was, I only played ten Tests in my career but I look back on it and I wouldn't have changed anything."

Darling and Wood would go on to be known as the "kamikaze kids" thanks to their excitable running between the wickets and the number of run outs they were involved in.

"It was not the way we ran between wickets it was the speed we ran between wickets," Darling said.

"For example, if we were running a three, I or him would be coming back for the third when the other person was only finishing the second.

"It wasn't the calling, it wasn't the misjudgement of a run — well I suppose it was — but it all goes back to the speed of us at the time."

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Darling's love of the pull and hook shots brought him plenty of runs but also countless head knocks that have affected him beyond his cricket career. He played his final Test in Mumbai in 1979 when he was felled by a Kapil Dev bouncer and taken to hospital.

"When I was in hospital with a head injury there was a line-up at the hospital for autographs," Darling said.

"They said they weren't going to give me treatment unless I signed about a hundred autographs.

"Obviously they were joking because the care I got was outstanding."

Darling played 14 Tests and represented Australia in one day internationals until 1982.

"I was in and out of the Test team and the one day team but it's four years of my life that was just fantastic," he said.

Simpson coached the Australian men to their first World Cup triumph in 1987. 

Bedi also went on to coach his country and threatened to dump the team in the sea after poor results in 1990. 

The more reserved Clark coached Western Australia to back-to-back Sheffield Shield titles in the late 1990s. He was armed with knowledge gained from a series against India when a ragtag bunch of players won against the odds.

"To win a series like that considering the pressure we were under," Clark said.

"As a young side to uphold what playing for Australia was all about, I think we did an excellent job.

"You couldn't have asked for a better series, really."

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