1972-73 Season

Bruce Laird represented his home state of Western Australia in Sheffield Shield cricket, making his debut in February 1973 aged 22. He opened the batting against a strong Victorian bowling line-up including Alan Thomson and Alan Hurst. Laird was dismissed early in both innings scoring 3 and 16. Western Australia won by 3 wickets and went on to win the 1972/73 Shield.

1973-74 and 1974-75 Seasons

Laird would not force his way into the first XI in the 1973/74 season but would become the regular opener in the 1974/75 season. His first century came against New South Wales in just his fourth first-class match. He started to be talked of as a future test player.

He scored 117 in a first wicket partnership of 203 with Wally Edwards. His second hundred was scored against Queensland, he scored 127 before being run out. In eight matches he scored 703 runs, joint top of the charts with the great Greg Chappell, at an average of 46.86 scoring two hundreds and four fifties.

1975 Ashes Tour

Laird's excellent season was rewarded with a place on the 1975 Ashes Tour to England and Canada.

Laird scored 80 in a game in Canada.

He did not play in any of the Test matches but did play in nine first-class matches against the County sides. He scored 488 runs in 9 matches at an average of 32.53, with a top score of 127. He was unlucky not to be picked for the first Test match having made 207 runs in three County matches. However the selectors backed Alan Turner who had made 156 against Kent in the first County match and Rick McCosker. The decision proved correct as the Australians thrashed England at Edgbaston by an innings and 85 runs. Despite only scoring 359 runs in the first innings, Australia bowled England out twice for 101 and 173. McCosker then cemented his place in the side with back-to-back hundreds against Sussex at Hove. The remaining tests were all drawn and Australia retained the Ashes with a 1–0 series win.

1975-76 Season

The following season with Western Australia was a disappointment for Laird. He played all eight Shield matches but scored just one hundred and averaged only 28.07. His side struggled with the bat with no player scoring more than one hundred, but with top fast bowlers Mick Malone and Dennis Lillee they managed to win four matches.

1976-77 Season

Laird was in the running for a spot in the Australian team that summer but lost out to Ian Davis. However he helped WA win the Shield.

1977-78 Season

Bruce Laird was signed up to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket in 1977. He was a star of the tournament playing in 13 Supertests.

In four 1977/78 Supertests Laird scored two hundreds, the first in the 3rd Supertest against the West Indies at Football Park, Adelaide. His score of 106 helped the Aussies to a 220 run win.

He scored 106 again in the first innings of the first Supertest against the World XI at RAS Showground, Sydney, although he made just six in the second innings as the Australians lost by 4 wickets.

1978-79 Season

The second season of World Series Cricket was not as successful for Laird. He did not score a century, although he did play in all four of Australia's Supertests. He did enough to be selected for the lucrative WSC Tour of the West Indies. There he played in all five Supertests, scoring one century, 122, in Australia's win at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago. The series was drawn 1–1.

1979-80 Season

After Packer reached a deal with the cricket authorities the Australian WSC players returned to their State sides and were once again available for international selection. Having played well during WSC Laird was selected immediately for the Australian XI to face the West Indies in 1979 at Brisbane.

He scored 92 and 72 in the drawn match. All but three of the Australian XI had played WSC, Allan Border