Richie Benaud was scheduled to be on a stage at the SCG next Wednesday night, inducting another former Australian Test captain, Mark Taylor, as this year's Bradman Foundation honoree.

Instead, the 83-year-old voice of cricket is set to be confined to a hospital bed after a car accident near his home in Coogee. Benaud was driving his beloved 1963 Sunbeam Alpine back from hitting practice golf balls at the Australian Golf Club in Rosebery on Wednesday when he lost control and hit a parked car and then a small brick fence. He suffered shoulder and chest injuries and a broken sternum but was in a stable condition at Sydney's Prince of Wales hospital on Thursday.

Cricket commentator Richie Benaud was injured while driving his prized Sunbeam Alpine into a brick fence in Sydney.

''No one else was injured, and I was more worried about the car than myself," Benaud said in a statement. Channel Nine said no decision had been made on whether the legendary commentator was expected to make a recovery in time to call the start of the Ashes series in Brisbane next month. It is almost certain he will not be able to appear at the annual gala Bradman function to induct Taylor but the ex-Test captain and Cricket Australia director insisted Benaud's health was the top priority.

''I'd sad to hear the news but I'm glad to hear he's in pretty good spirits,'' Taylor said. ''At the end of the day inducting me as a Bradman honoree is the last thing on his mind and it should be. My words to him would be 'just get better'. He can shake my hand when we turn up to the first Test match.''