In 1978, prior to the start of the second season of World Series Cricket, the WSC Australia XI and WSC World XI teams embarked on a brief tour of New Zealand, the first time that WSC teams had played outside Australia. A four-day game played in Auckland was to be followed by a three-day single innings game and a total of six one day games between the two sides over a 16-day period. The abandonment of the third one-day game led to the scheduling of an additional game at the same venue later in the tour. The planned three-day game became a pair of one-day games after the first day was washed out, which led to a final total of nine one-day games on the schedule.