<P> In the late 1970s , Kerry Packer established the rival World Series Cricket competition , and it introduced many of the features of One Day International cricket that are now commonplace , including coloured uniforms , matches played at night under floodlights with a white ball and dark sight screens , and , for television broadcasts , multiple camera angles , effects microphones to capture sounds from the players on the pitch , and on - screen graphics . The first of the matches with coloured uniforms was the WSC Australians in wattle gold versus WSC West Indians in coral pink , played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17 January 1979 . This led not only to Kerry Packer 's Channel 9 getting the TV rights to cricket in Australia but also led to players worldwide being paid to play , and becoming international professionals , no longer needing jobs outside cricket . Matches played with coloured kits and a white ball became more commonplace over time , and the use of white flannels and a red ball in ODIs was finally abandoned in 2001 . </P>
in which world cup edition was the use of coloured kits and white balls introduced
1979