Richie Benaud dead at 84

Updated

Richie Benaud

1930 - 2015

Cricket icon Richie Benaud, who distinguished himself first as a leg-spinning all-rounder, then as a daring Australian Test captain and later as the 'voice of cricket' in the commentary box, has died at the age of 84.

Benaud's skills, drive and determination took him to the top on and off the cricket field, and made him one of Australia's most recognised people, instantly identifiable simply as Richie.

He played 63 Tests for Australia, was the first player to score 2,000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets, and never lost a series as Australian captain.

After hanging up his Baggy Green cap, he spent more than four decades as the king of cricket commentators, a man viewed around the world as one of the best callers, watchers and analysts of the game - and perhaps its best ambassador as well.

Benaud died in his sleep overnight after a battle with skin cancer.

A distinguished player

He may have been born and raised in Western Sydney, but Richie Benaud's heart always lay a distance to the east in the sporting splendour of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

From the moment his father Lou took him to the SCG to watch his first Sheffield Shield match - a South Australian side featuring Don Bradman versus New South Wales - at the age of 10 in 1940, his life would be indelibly tied to the historic venue.

He made his first-class debut there for the Blues at age 18 against Queensland in late 1948, his Test debut there for Australia in January 1952 against the West Indies and played his final Test against South Africa there in 1964.

Fifty years after his Test farewell, when Benaud was among 15 inaugural inductees into the SCG Media Hall of Honour, his wife Daphne surprised few when she said the venue was her husband's "favourite ground in the world".

The son of a leg-spinner, Benaud was born in Penrith in 1930 and although he began his schooling in the Riverina town of Jugiong on the Murrumbidgee River, he and his family later moved back to Sydney to live in Parramatta, where he attended high school and attracted early attention as a promising all-rounder.

His father taught the young Benaud how to bowl leg-breaks, googlies and top-spinners. By 16, Richie was playing grade cricket for Cumberland, the same club his father had represented for two decades.

Following his Blues debut - he was first picked as a batsman - Benaud was relegated to the state second XI, where he was dealt a stunning reminder of the dangers of the game: playing against a Victorian side he mistimed a hook shot and the ball struck him flush above his right eye, causing a skull fracture that ruled him out for the season.

I once said to Keith Miller how disappointed I was to have made my debut in the same year as Bradman finished.



How wonderful it would have been to have watched him play at the SCG in 1940 and then been able to bowl at him on the same ground.



Nugget looked at me and remarked drily that everyone has one lucky break in a lifetime and that may well have been mine. Richie Benaud, writing in his autobiography Over But Not Out

He regained his place in the first XI and went on to make his national debut at 21.

From there, Benaud was in and out of the side on a regular basis; it was not until the 1957-58 tour of South Africa that he began to really make his mark.

The Australian team restored some prestige to the Baggy Green with an encouraging 3-0 win in the Republic as Benaud shone with both bat and ball. He showcased his developing googly delivery to trouble the South African batsmen throughout and take 30 wickets for the series.

In the one match he did not produce with the ball, he sparkled with the willow instead, scoring 122 in the first Test, while also notching a century in the fourth Test.

But it was as Australian captain that Benaud really came into his own.

He took the reins as skipper in a home series against England in 1958 and led the side to regain the Ashes. His Australian team went on to defend the coveted trophy twice.

In fact, Benaud was in charge for 28 Tests, and in that time Australia never lost a series.

More remarkable still was the way he achieved this feat: not by grinding out results but with an attacking flair that not only produced results but captured the imagination of a public that was jaded with Test cricket. In this way, he broke new ground and set a model for the modern cricket captain.

He formed an alliance with his boyhood hero Don Bradman, who was by this time the chairman of selectors and also favoured aggressive play.

In 1960-61, the West Indies - led by the dynamic and stylish Frank Worrell - arrived in Australia for a four-Test series that would revitalise cricket.

Richie Benaud's Test career Matches 63 Innings 97 Runs 2,201 Wickets 248 Batting avg 24.45 Bowling avg 27.03

In the opening Test at the Gabba, which set the scene for the series, Australia collapsed to be 6 for 92 on the final day, chasing 233 to win.

Benaud and Alan Davidson were at the crease, and in keeping with a speech from Bradman on the eve of the match in which he said the selectors favoured attractive cricket, Benaud chose to chase a win rather than bat for a draw.

Still needing 124 more to win at tea, Benaud and Davidson set their sights on victory and stayed together until the final overs. In a dramatic finale, West Indies fielder Joe Solomon ran out Ian Meckiff off the final ball to cause the first ever tied Test match.

The entire series saw massive crowds at every venue, and when it was over the public response was such that the West Indies side was given a tickertape parade with 80,000 people lining the streets of Sydney.

It was, in all respects, a game-changer.

Another moment that summed up Benaud's approach to captaincy was during his final tour of England in 1961, where his ability to make a headline came to the fore. Arriving in England, he declared his side would play attacking cricket, regardless of the result.

As Ian Chappell told the audience at Benaud's induction into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame many years later, the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester was pivotal.

Chasing 256 to win on the final day, England was poised for victory at 1 for 150, Chappell recalled.

"He called his team together at drinks and he said, 'the draw is no longer an option, we have to play hard to win this game and ... I want you to field like you've never fielded before in your life'.

"He then grabbed the ball, took 5 for 6 in 24 balls and Australia produced a magnificent victory.

"He truly was an inspirational Australian captain."

Benaud played 63 Test matches and proved his genuine all-round ability, becoming the first player to make 2,000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets.

The voice of summer

Plenty of sportspeople before and since have made the transition from a career on the field to one in the media, but no-one did it like Richie Benaud.

Calm. Measured. Mellow. Mellifluous. Familiar. Professional. As much as he had been in his element with a bat or ball in hand, once Benaud got behind a microphone there was nowhere else you could imagine him.

One of the marks of a good broadcaster is the audience comes to regard them as an essential presence in their lounge rooms, cars or - more latterly - tablets and smartphones.

Richie Benaud's tips for commentating Never ask a statement.

Remember the value of the pause.

There are no teams in the world called 'we' or 'they'.

Avoid cliches and banalities, such as 'he's hit that to the boundary', 'he won't want to get out now', 'of course', 'as you can see on the screen'.

The Titanic was a tragedy, the Ethiopian drought a disaster, and neither bears any relation to a dropped catch.

Put your brain into gear before opening your mouth.

Concentrate fiercely at all times.

Above all, don't take yourself too seriously, and have fun. Sources: Guardian, Young Wisden

Sources: SMH

Benaud had this from early on: a voice so idiosyncratic that it launched a thousand stand-up routines and comedy albums, married to encyclopaedic knowledge and a humour drier than the Nullarbor.

He appeared unruffled at all times, and regardless of the drama at a Test or one-dayer there was a level of reserve - unlike some commentators, he never had to raise his voice to get his point across, merely a pause to let you know to listen for what came next.

But the viewer or listener was never confused into thinking this meant a lack of passion for the game and what was happening.

The prime example came on the most infamous day in Australian cricket, the day Greg Chappell prevailed upon his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to New Zealand's Brian McKechnie on the final ball of the third one-day final at the MCG in February 1981.

Post-match, delivering his familiar piece to camera wrapping up the Channel Nine coverage, Benaud was scathing of what had occurred that day:

"Let me tell you what I think about it, I think it was a disgraceful decision by a captain who got his sums wrong today.

"I think it should never be permitted to happen again - we keep reading and hearing that the players are under pressure and they're tired and jaded and perhaps their skill is blunted.

"Well, perhaps they might advance that as an excuse for what happened out there today, (but) not with me they don't. I think it was a very poor performance, one of the worst things I've ever seen done on a cricket field. Goodnight."

It was the vocal equivalent of McKechnie flinging his bat away in disgust, and it had the same striking effect.

I think Richie's probably made the biggest contribution than any other cricketer in the last 50 years ... He's been the perfect foil for any young child, any commentator, any cricketer. He never put a foot wrong, Richie, on or off the field. Bill Lawry, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

I think he was probably one of the best all-round cricketers this country has ever produced. He's been one of the best captains this country's ever produced. Neil Harvey, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

He, I would say, definitely was the best leg-spinner in the world. And when he came back from a wonderful tour in South Africa, he was the best all-rounder in the world. Lindsay Kline, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

He was one of the first of the flamboyant sort of captains, or even players. Ian Meckiff, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

He's the leader, he's the man, he's the doyen, whatever you want to say about him. Michael Slater, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

Cricket just relies on Richie being around, his voice and his welcome - he's cricket. Ian Healy, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

His timing is magical. His phrasing is simple and choice of what and when quite brilliant. Mark Nicholas, speaking in a 2007 tribute video

His media career may be associated with the high-tech world of television broadcasting, but it began in 1956 with a pen, a notebook and a telephone at the Sydney Sun newspaper.

Benaud already had his eye on a life in the media after cricket when he persuaded the paper's editor to give him a job. He was paired with the Sun's police roundsman, Noel Bailey, who taught him the print equivalent of line and length - how to write to a set word count on deadline, filing over the phone to copytakers while not missing a beat, often with the script in his head rather than on paper.

Economy of words became the guiding principle of his career, or as he put it in a later book, "don't speak unless you can add to the picture".

Having been trained in the fundamentals of journalism Benaud quickly expanded into sports writing, becoming a columnist for the News of the World in London.

He first became interested in the electronic media with a training stint at the BBC post the 1956 Ashes tour, making his radio commentating debut on the BBC in 1960 and three years later he took his place on the BBC's TV Test coverage, beginning an unbroken 42-year stint on British television (including six years on Channel 4) that only ended with the completion of the dramatic Ashes series in 2005.

He was behind the mic for Shane Warne's mesmerising first Test delivery in England, the "ball of the century" that spun Mike Gatting for a loop at Old Trafford in 1993. True to form his commentary was low-key but effective: "He's done it ... Gatting has absolutely no idea what has happened to it ... he still doesn't know!"

His impact on viewers and cricket lovers was displayed when the announcement of his final stint in the commentary box at The Oval in 2005 was met with a prolonged ovation from both crowd and players.

In Australia his presence was even more pronounced - when Kerry Packer was looking to turn the world of cricket upside down in 1977, he chose Benaud as the on-screen host for World Series Cricket.

Having Benaud as the face of the breakaway competition proved as important as the talent on the field, like Lillee and Thomson, because his presence added an air of legitimacy.

Over the years the Channel Nine commentary team - Bill, Tony, Ian - cemented themselves as household names, but Richie was the undisputed leader.

Benaud says it was Packer himself who suggested he stand out from the rest of the commentary team by wearing a light-coloured jacket that set him apart as the anchor. It became his trademark.

A cultural icon

Off the pitch, Benaud met his match in Daphne Surfleet, a young woman who had worked as personal assistant to the great English cricket writer EW Swanton.

Ms Surfleet was a writer of note, becoming the first woman accepted into the press gallery at the home of cricket, Lord's.

The pair met and fell in love, and were married in 1967 before moving to Coogee. They later set up a sports consultancy business together.

When Packer approached him to sign on for World Series Cricket, the story goes that Benaud insisted he needed to discuss it with Daphne before coming to a decision.

Benaud's only sibling, John, 13 years his junior, also played cricket for Australia, scoring 223 runs and taking two wickets in his three Test appearances.

Richie Benaud was honoured in 1961 with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket, and was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, followed by the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007 and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame two years later.

He never had the chance to make a formal farewell from Nine, as he had at Channel 4 in the UK.

In October 2013, Benaud crashed his vintage motor car, a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine, into a wall near his home in Coogee. His injuries included two fractured vertebrae.

This meant he was unable to commentate on that year's home Ashes series. A year later, in November 2014, Benaud announced publicly that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer, ruling him out for the home summer.

Before the start of the Boxing Day Test, Channel Nine played a video narrated by Benaud, which had the air of a valedictory message. His voice slowed and looking frail, he spoke of he and his wife's love of their home at Coogee, his recovery from the accident and his illness and their anticipation of the contest to come at the MCG.

There was no talk of a comeback to the commentary box, and so it proved; Benaud's voice fell silent.

But the legacy he leaves behind - as a player, as a leg-spinner, as a captain, as a journalist, columnist, commentator, author and leader - means he has more than earned a leading place in the history of the game he loved and in Australia's cultural history.

More on the life and times of Richie Benaud

Credits

Topics: cricket, information-and-communication, sydney-2000

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