The path from the cricket field to the commentary box is well trod, but never with greater distinction than by Richie Benaud, known to many as the voice of cricket, who died in Sydney, Australia, on Friday. He was 84.

Cricket has numerous halls of fame, but none with the singular authority of the American institutions in Canton, Ohio, for football; Cooperstown, N.Y., for baseball; and Springfield, Mass., for basketball. If it did, Mr. Benaud would have been sure of enshrinement as a player if he had done nothing else in the game, or as a broadcaster had he never played.

His achievements led Gideon Haigh, one of cricket’s most authoritative chroniclers, to call him “perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War.”

Mr. Benaud died on Friday morning, said Katie Hale, assistant chief of staff at Channel 9, the Australian broadcaster he worked for. His family said that he died in his sleep.