Mark Colvin reported this story on Friday, April 10, 2015 18:10:00

MARK COLVIN: There are whole generations who only knew Richie Benaud as a commentator, but long before that, he was one of Australia's greatest players and captains.



As you've just heard, back in those days before cricketers were paid big money, advertisers signed him up to promote their products.



And he learned his trade as a reporter on the old Sun newspaper in Sydney, covering police rounds.



With Channel 9 here and with the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, he brought his on-field knowledge and tactical vision to the small screen



And he did it with economy - as he once wrote, "don't speak unless you can add to the picture".



Fellow cricketer Alan Davidson is probably his oldest friend.



ALAN DAVIDSON: In fact I played against him 70 years ago.



MARK COLVIN: So…



ALAN DAVIDSON: He was 14 and I was 15.



MARK COLVIN: I was going to ask you about that, you bowled to each other?



ALAN DAVIDSON: Yes we played against one another at, it was at the Hamilton Oval in Newcastle, I was representing Northern high schools, Richie was the Sydney high schools, or city high schools. And I can still remember this snowy head black batting, and funnily enough he was batting at the northern end.



I still remember it vividly, I was bowling orthodox left hand spin and I suddenly decided I'd bowl him a Chinaman - you know the off break. And I bowled the best off break I ever bowled and somehow I just bloody jabbed it out of his wicket and he looked up at me with this shocked look on his face and it was something, you know, it's still very clear in my mind.



MARK COLVIN: You were friendly rivals though?



ALAN DAVIDSON: Well the thing is that you know, when I did decide eventually after finishing school, I came down and played with northern districts and one of the first games I played was actually against the Cumberland Club, we were always mates.



And I think the great part about that with Richie was that with Neil Harvey, we were known as the three musketeers on the tour of England in 1953. And we did things together, we went you know to the races and we went to the theatre, you know, we just had meals together. We were just three musketeers who loved cricket. We all three were aggressive cricketers, you know aggressive in the sense - we didn't go on with sledging or anything, but you know we loved to take the initiative away from the opposition.



MARK COLVIN: It wasn't very promising to start off with, I think there was a not a very good tour against England and then on the way back there was an extraordinary performance against India.



ALAN DAVIDSON: Yes well the thing is that we, I suppose the great thing about the, I suppose from 1950 I first played with Richie in the state team in 1949 and then we went overseas in '53 and then to the West Indies in '55, England '56 and we were really still trying to learn to play. The thing was that you know, Richie worked in the Sun Newspaper near central.



I used to get the train down to central and then we'd both get on the tram and go out to Anzac Parade and then walk all the way down with our bags down to the ground, those were the days before Lamborghinis and everything else.



MARK COLVIN: I was going to say, a very different world. Everybody had to have a second job.



ALAN DAVIDSON: It was a wonderful world because I think the best part was that you became mates, real mates, the friendships that were developed because things weren't, you know they weren't easy days. But the thing is that you know we had six or seven years where we were actually learning the game and then we went with Ian Craig as captain to South Africa and then from 1957 through to '64, well we were world champions.



MARK COLVIN: People talk about it as a rebuilding of Australian cricket in the pos-Bradman era. There was that slump wasn't there in the middle there. What did Richie contribute to the rebuild?



ALAN DAVIDSON: So many of the players were in the invincibles in '48, they were all men that had served in the services throughout the war and then instead of them coming into the chest side in the early '20s, they were virtually 28-29 by the time the war was over. And that was a different world, a different world altogether.



But the thing was that I can only emphasise the fact of what Richie tried to establish was that we are a team, nobody was better than anyone else and that was the atmosphere in the dressing room, it was when you met socially, everyone was equal.



MARK COLVIN: He was clearly a very good player. What do you think it was that made him such a good captain, what were the personal qualities in Richie?



ALAN DAVIDSON: The personal qualities, he was a student, a real student of the game. But apart from that he also, he knew every player in his team, he knew the capabilities of every one of the players, he knew the players and then he knew also the opposition so well.



Like for instance I, there was chap called Roy McLean who had a sensational tour to Australia in '52. As soon as he came in the wicket in South Africa I was on, because I had the wood on him. You know, Richie's timing with changes of bowlers and changing of field placements was just phenomenal.



MARK COLVIN: Tactics, a real tactician.



ALAN DAVIDSON: But he had, he had, his tactics were take the initiative, don't let the other bloke get the initiative. You know, in other words, keep the bloke on the back foot all the time.



And there was nothing he couldn't do.



MARK COLVIN: When I was watching him play I was just a school boy and I would have to admit that I probably hero-worshipped him. Was Richie the hero that a lot of school boys thought he was?



ALAN DAVIDSON: Well he was so, like Richie was tremendously popular with every member of the side. You know, funnily enough he was the first one to actually used to come around, you know if you took a wicket, he wanted to run up and give you a bloody bear hug and everything.



And the amazing part about that was the first time he did it I put my, I gave him the best fend of any rugby league or rugby union player and I've hit him in the centre of the chest because I didn't want him hugging me or kissing me and he finished up on his backside on the ground.



MARK COLVIN: Alan Davidson, old friend, old teammate, of Richie Benaud, who has died at 84.