Richie Benaud: Billy Birmingham pays tribute to cricket commentary legend after years of 12th Man parodies

Updated

The comedian who for years famously impersonated Channel Nine's cricket commentary team, Billy Birmingham, has paid tribute to the "incomparable, irreplaceable" Richie Benaud.

Benaud died peacefully in his sleep overnight aged 84 after a battle with skin cancer, and has been honoured by cricketers, sportspeople, journalists, broadcasters, politicians and cricket fans the world over.

Better known as The Twelfth Man, Birmingham sold millions of albums impersonating Benaud's unmistakable voice and mannerisms, as well as Benaud's Channel Nine colleagues.

Birmingham said it was "hard to put into words" to describe the way he felt about Benaud's death, saying Benaud had become an integral part of his career for 30 years.

"How are you supposed to feel when the bloke with whom millions associate you has delivered his last 'chew for chwenty chew'?" Birmingham wrote for Fox Sports.

"I know I won't be alone in feeling this way. Richie has occupied a special place in our homes and our hearts for decades. The world changed so much over that time. Richie didn't seem to.

"I must admit that I was quite shocked to see how his health had deteriorated when we shot his brilliant Australia Day "lamb" commercial together at the start of the summer.

"The first thing I noticed was that his always impeccably coiffed hair had succumbed to the ravages of chemotherapy. Then, when I put my arm around him and felt just how much he had wasted away, I was profoundly shocked and saddened.

Richie has occupied a special place in our homes and our hearts for decades. The world changed so much over that time. Richie didn't seem to. Billy Birmingham

"The recovery from the [car] accident in the Sunbeam had clearly taken it out of him but he was now facing an even bigger battle as his years of playing cricket hatless had resulted in skin cancer.

"There was something in his eyes, too. If you asked him how he was, the reply was always along the lines of 'Pleased to report I'm on the mend.' But you knew that was stoicism, not reality.

"I was bloody amazed that he even had the strength to show up at all."

Birmingham said he would always mail his latest album to Benaud upon its release, and received regular critiques from Benaud, who championed its humour but always decried its foul language.

After the release of Birmingham's The 12th Man Again album, Benaud wrote:

Dear Billy, Thanks for the LP, tape and CD of the '12th Man Again'. The usual critique follows, the fee for which will be $A87,000. There are some wonderfully funny and brilliant sequences again and the production is excellent. Demerit marks: too much swearing just for the sake of swearing. In this, I'm right on the side of your daughter with her published remark about Daddy using the F-word ... and possibly your mum as well! Some of the voices don't seem quite right, particularly Chappelli's again. It seems I have a voice that is easy to copy. But in general terms, other than Greigy, they don't seem quite as spot on this time. I see you've hit Number 1 again. Perhaps I should reconsider my retirement! In a word, as the tautology kings would say, wonderfully amusing. Cheers and salaams, "richie."

Birmingham said the cricketing world adored Benaud, adding there was no other Australian as universally loved as him.

"It was a kind of affection that isn't conditional on cricketing skills or commentary work. People just adored the man," Birmingham said.

"That's why everyone gives their mate a knowing nudge when the scoreboard ticks over to 2 for 22, why entire sections of the crowd don silver wigs and beige jackets at the Sydney Test each year, why reciting Richie's commentary gems has become a national pastime.

"Rest in peace, Richie. Incomparable, irreplaceable, the one and only (he didn't like the word 'doyen')."

Topics: cricket, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia

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