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Full name Richard "Richie" Benaud
Born October 6, 1930, Penrith, New South Wales
Died April 9, 2015, Sydney, New South Wales (aged 84 years 185 days)
Major teams Australia, New South Wales
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly
Other Commentator, Journalist, Author
Relation Brother - J Benaud
Profile |
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Few cricketers have matured so gradually yet ripened so fruitfully as Richie Benaud. With little to show for his first six years in Test cricket, he blossomed as a fully fledged allrounder in South Africa in 1957-58, then flowered as a charismatic captain at home against England in 1958-59. He repossessed the Ashes, which his teams then successfully defended twice. As a legspinner, he was full of baits and traps, and he batted and fielded with verve. Yet it was his presence, as much as anything, which summoned the best from players: cool but communicative, he impressed as one to whom no event was unexpected, no contingency unplanned for. The same has applied to his journalism: terse, direct and commonsensical, and his broadcasting: mellow and authoritative. His wise head was sought by Kerry Packer in the formation of World Series Cricket in 1977, conferring respectability on the breakaway professional circuit. A guru to Ian Chappell and Shane Warne among others, he is perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War.
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game.Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending thoughtful leg spin bowling with lower-order batting aggression. Along with fellow bowling all-rounder Alan Davidson, he helped restore Australia to the top of world cricket in the late 1950s and early 1960s after a slump in the early 1950s. In 1958 he became Australia's Test captain until his retirement in 1964.Gideon Haigh described him as "perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War."In his review of Benaud's autobiography Anything But, Sri Lankan cricket writer Harold de Andrado wrote: "Richie Benaud possibly next to Sir Don Bradman has been one of the greatest cricketing personalities as player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organiser, adviser and student of the game."
Benaud was born in Penrith, New South Wales, in 1930. He came from a cricket family. His father Louis, a third generation Australian of French Huguenot descent,was a leg spinner who played for Penrith in Sydney Grade Cricket, gaining attention for taking all twenty wickets in a match against St. Marys for 65 runs. Lou later moved to Parramatta region in western Sydney, and played for Cumberland. It was here that Richie Benaud grew up, learning how to bowl leg breaks, googlies and topspinners under his father's watch.Educated at Parramatta High School, Benaud made his first grade debut for Cumberland at age 16, primarily as a batsman.
In November 1948, at the age of 18, Benaud was selected for the New South Wales Colts, the state youth team. He scored 47 not out and took 3/37 in an innings win over Queensland.[5] As a specialist batsman, he made his first class debut for New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground against Queensland in the New Year's match of the 1948–49 season. On a green pitch which was struck by a downpour on the opening day, Benaud's spin was not used by Arthur Morris and he failed to make an impression with the bat in his only innings, scoring only two.New South Wales were the dominant state at the time, and vacancies in the team were scarce, particularly as there were no Tests that season and all of the national team players were available for the whole summer.Relegated to the Second XI after this match, he was struck in the head above the right eye by a ball from Jack Daniel while batting against Victoria in Melbourne, having missed an attempted hook. After 28 X-rays showed nothing, it was finally diagnosed that the crater in his forehead had resulted in a skull fracture and he was sidelined for the remainder of the season,since a second impact could have been fatal. He spent two weeks in hospital for the surgery.This was the only match he played for the second-string state team that summer.
The chinaman bowler Lindsay Kline represented Australia in just 13 Tests, nine of them overseas where he was notably successful (31 wickets at 15.35). He took a hat-trick in his second Test, in Cape Town in 1957-58, but is best remembered for facing the last ball of the first tied Test, against West Indies at Brisbane in the classic 1960-61 series. He also denied West Indies for 100 minutes as Australia held on for a draw at Adelaide in the same series. It was his last act in Test cricket.
