"'Did you ever play cricket for Australia, Mr Benaud?' In his On
Reflection, Richie Benaud recalls being asked this humbling question by
a 'fair-haired, angelic little lad of about 12', one of a group of six
autograph seekers who accosted him at the SCG 'one December evening in
1982'.

'Now what do you do?' Benaud writes. 'Cry or laugh? I did neither but
merely said yes, I had played up to 1963, which was going to be well
before he was born. "Oh," he said. "That's great. I thought you were
just a television commentator on cricket." Autograph in hand, the boy
'scampered away with a "thank you" thrown over his shoulder'."

So wrote Gideon Haigh, the cricket historian and writer, in a 2002 tribute to former Australia cricket captain and renowned commentator, Richie Benaud, in which he went on to say:
" John Arlott has been garlanded as the voice of cricket; Benaud is indisputably the face of it, in both hemispheres, over generations."

The cricketer

As Richard Cooke recalled in the Guardian:
February 2014 marked the 50th year since his retirement as a player. He was already a commentator while captain in 1963 and did not take long to become indivisible from the game. He called or played in almost a third of the Tests that took place in his lifetime, more than 500 of them. Add countless one-dayers and Twenty20 games (which he loved), and Benaud saw more cricket live than anyone else alive. Probably more than anyone else alive will ever see. He was not just the face and the voice of cricket, but its permanent witness.

So long and powerful was Benaud's innings as a television commentator that even the official statement from the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, on Richie Benaud's death on Friday, felt the need to spell out his cricketing achievements:
Richie Benaud OBE was part of all our lives.

To most Australians Richie Benaud was cricket. He personified its traditions and its values.

While many Australians only know Richard Benaud as the voice of cricket, we should not forget that in his day he was a cricketer with few equals. It was why he was so insightful as a commentator.

As a player his record has withstood the test of time. He led the Australian side from 1958/59 through to 1963/1964, never losing a series in his 28 Tests as captain.

As captain, he was first to lead a full Australian tour to India and Pakistan in 1959/60.

He was the first cricketer to reach a Test double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets.

The record-breaking leg-spinner and captain retired with 248 Test wickets to his name and three Test centuries in 63 matches of which in 28 he was the captain.

Attacking bowler

He loved to experiment and innovate. He became the first player to go round the wicket and bowl into the footmarks made by the bowler at the opposite end, thus single-handedly spinning Australia to an unlikely victory in the Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1961. Looking for 256 to win, England had reached 150-1, but Benaud, with his audacious move, managed to take five wickets in 25 balls to win the match and the series, thus retaining the Ashes.

Attacking captain

In the tied Test in December 1960, needing 233 to win against the West Indies, Australia had slumped to 92-6, when the great Donald Bradman himself, then a selector and chairman of the Australian board, spotted Benaud and Alan Davidson sitting outside the dressing room at the Gabba.  What were his intentions, Sir Don asked. "We're going for the win, of course," Benaud replied. He wasn't just indulging in bravado. For he had promised Sir Don that he would inject some life and spirit into the 1960-61 series. From that seemingly hopeless position, the duo did take Australia almost to the verge of an improbable victory, before the match ended in a historic tie. The story goes that Benaud had made a pact with the visiting captain Frank Worrell to play positive cricket. He is credited with having revived Test cricket which had become ossified because of stodgy batting and negative tactics.

Attacking batsman

He was no different as a batsman. His century in 1955 in only 78 minutes against a West Indies attack that included legendary all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers remains the third-fastest Test hundred in terms of minutes. In addition to his Test record, Benaud is one of the few select Australians to have scored 10,000 runs and taken 500 wickets in first-class cricket.

Indeed, as Haigh wrote,
"Benaud would rank among Test cricket's elite legspinners and captains if he had never uttered or written a word about the game. His apprenticeship was lengthy - thanks partly to the prolongation of Ian Johnson's career by his tenure as Australian captain - and Benaud's first 27 Tests encompassed only 73 wickets at 28.90 and 868 runs at 28.66.

Then, as Johnnie Moyes put it, came seniority and skipperhood: 'Often in life and in cricket we see the man who has true substance in him burst forth into stardom when his walk-on part is changed for one demanding personality and a degree of leadership. I believe that this is what happened to Benaud.' In his next 23 Tests Benaud attained the peak of proficiency - 131 wickets at 22.66 and 830 runs at 28.62, until a shoulder injury in May 1961 impaired his effectiveness."

Why say what you can see?

And then, of course, was the television commentary, based on the principle of "put your brain into gear before opening your mouth". Laconic, considered, dry.  And a wry wit:  Chris Broad was guilty once of a malapropism, while commentating along with him. "Honestly, you run out of expletives when describing the fielding of Jonty Rhodes," he said. Benaud didn't skip a beat, as he responded: "Which particular one did you have in mind?"

Why say it when you can see it?

Stories abound, with some of his off-the-cuff observations having passed into folklore. We give you just a few:
“And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just 98 runs short of his century.”

On Shane Warne’s Ball of the Century in 1993:
“Gatting has absolutely no idea what has happened to it... he still doesn’t know!”

On a Ian Botham shot:
“Don’t bother looking for that, let alone chasing it. That’s gone straight into the confectionary stall and out again.”

On a Justin Langer pull for six:
“He’s not quite got hold of that one. If he had, it would have gone for nine.”

On captaincy:
"Captaincy is 90% luck and 10% skill. But don't try it without that 10%."

"Any captain can only do his best for the team and for cricket. When you are winning, you are a hero. Lose, and the backslappers fade away."

"The hallmark of a great captain is the ability to win the toss, at the right time."

Kerry Packer benefited from Benaud who worked with him not only as a commentator but also as a consultant. He remained the face and voice of Australian cricket television commentary for Channel 9 until a car accident in 2013.  A year before that, he summarised his philosophy of television commentary to an Australian journalist, Christine Sams:





Richie Benaud was not only the “voice of cricket” but also the voice of the cricket video games. Electronic Arts Sports, makers of the EA Sports Cricket games, had Benaud as commentator, which accounts for his popularity among youngsters:


Five videos

We could go on, but leave you with five essential Benaud videos:

Channel Nine in Australia looking back at Benaud’s 35 years of cricket.



Richie Benaud’s induction into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007.



Benaud talking about the best batsman since Bradman, Tendulkar



Richie Benaud in full form during the 2005 Ashes Series. His final Test match in England as a commentator for Channel Four.



Australian cricketers trying to imitate Richie Benaud