was preparing himself for employment after his retirement. A shoulder injury sustained towards the end of the 1976 tour of England prevented Holding from joining the West Indies squad to face Pakistan in March 1977. During the series Lloyd approached Holding about a joining a proposed World XI team, captained by England's Tony Greig, to play against Australia in World Series Cricket; at the time there was still animosity between Greig and the West Indies players over Greig's 'grovel' comment before the 1976 Test series in England. The series was the brainchild of Kerry Packer after his television channel, Channel 9, had missed out on the rights to broadcast Australia's home Test series. Players would be paid much more than they had been before, and with his earnings from the series Holding was able to buy his first car and later a house. When the World Series Cricket plan became public, the Australian Cricket Board and England Cricket Board both threatened to ban any of their players taking part. Packer responded to the pressure by signing the whole West Indies team to compete in the series alongside a World XI and an Australian team. Relegated to playing at football grounds rather than cricket stadiums, the series initially suffered from poor crowds. The negative press surrounding the World Series – players were labelled mercenaries – bred a sense of camaraderie in the West Indies side, which contributed to the team's dominance in the Test arena for years to come. In March 1978, after the first season of World Series Cricket, Australia embarked on a Test tour of the West Indies. Australia were severely depleted because the ACB refused to pick leading players such as Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, and Dennis Lillee because they had played in the Packer series. Holding suffered a recurrence of his shoulder injury and so missed the series, but otherwise the West Indies began the series at full strength. Eventually external pressure on the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) not to select players who played in the World Series resulted in three players being dropped and Clive Lloyd's resignation as captain. The rest of the team refused to play in protest and were replaced by second-choice players. The second year of World Series Cricket was more successful than the first and matches were played in front of much larger crowds. Though contracted to last three years, the