from 1971 onwards, harvey was the chairman of selectors. it was a tumultuous period in australian cricket, where captain bill lawry was acrimoniously sacked in the middle of the 1970–71 series against england after a dispute between players and australian officials. lawry was not informed of his fate and learned of his omission on the radio when he was still one of australia's most productive batsmen. the dispute was the genesis of the pay dispute which, led to the formation of world series cricket in 1977 and generated a mass exodus of players. this resulted in the recall of bob simpson after ten years in retirement at the age of 41 to captain the test team. following the rapprochement between the establishment and the wsc players, harvey left the selection panel. the wsc representatives felt that harvey's anti-wsc comments made him prejudiced against the selection of former wsc players.