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Australian
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Australia
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AUS
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Richie Benaud
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Richie Benaudjpg
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Right-handed batsman (RHB)
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Leg Spin
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63
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2201
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2445
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3/9
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122
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19108
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248
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2703
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16
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1
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7/72
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65/0
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259
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11719
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3650
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23/61
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187
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60481
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945
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2473
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56
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9
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7/19
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254/0
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25 January
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1952
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7 February
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1964
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OBE (born
October 6 ,
1930 in
Penrith, New South Wales ) is a former
Australia n
Cricket er and longstanding media commentator who is widely regarded to be the doyen of television commentators. His cricketing reputation was established in the 1950s and 60s when he developed into a quality
Test Cricket allrounder, blending thoughtful leg spin bowling with lower order batting aggression. Along with fellow bowling all rounder
Alan Davidson , they restored 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 captain of the Australian cricket team and, until his retirement in 1964, took international cricket into the modern era by emphasising the need for positive play, using his media expertise to communicate his and his team's goals clearly and effectively.
Since retiring from international cricket in 1964 he has become a highly regarded commentator on the game.
has been one of the greatest cricketing personalities as, player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organiser, adviser and student of the game."
Cricinfo review of Benaud autobiography: ''Anything But''
He was made a Member of the
Order Of The British Empire in 1961 for services to cricket.
In 2007, he was inducted in the
Australian Cricket Hall Of Fame at the
Allan Border Medal award evening.
Benaud was not a large spinner of the ball, but he was known for his ability to extract substantial bounce from the surface. In addition to his accurate probing consistency, he possessed a well disguised
Googly and
Top Spinner which tricked many batsmen and yielded him many wickets. In his later career, he added the
Flipper , a combination of the googly and top spinner which was passed to him by
Bruce Dooland . Coupled with his subtle variations in flight and angle of the delivery, he kept the batsman under constant pressure. Benaud was regarded as one of the finest close-fielders of his era, either at gully or in a silly position. As a batsman, he was tall and lithe, known for his hitting power, in particular his lofted driving ability from the front foot.
Benaud came from a cricket family. His father Louis, a third generation Australian of
French Huguenot descent,
1 was a
Leg Spin ner who played for
Penrith in
Sydney Grade Cricket , in 1922-23 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 Break s,
Googlies and
Topspinner s 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.
2
As a specialist batsman, he made his first class debut for
New South Wales at the
Sydney Cricket Ground against
Queensland in 1948-49. Relegated to the Second XI soon after during the season, he was struck in the head while playing against
Victoria in
Melbourne and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. In his early career, Benaud was a batting all rounder, marked by a looping backlift which made him suspect against fast bowling but allowed him to have a wide attacking stroke range.
Benaud was first selected for Australia in the Fifth Test against the
West Indies in 1951-52 in
Sydney . Selected as a batsman, he scored 3 and 14 and bowled only in the second innings, taking 1/14 as Australia won. The following Australian season in 1952-53, after missing the first Test against
South Africa , he played in the final four Tests. He made 124 runs at 20.66, making double figures in four of seven innings, but was unable to capitalise, with a top score of 45. His leg spin yielded ten wickets at 30.6, with a best of 4/118 in the Fourth Test in
Adelaide . He suffered a smashed gum and a severely cut top lip when a square cut by
John Waite in the Second Test at the
Sydney Cricket Ground hit him in the face while he was fielding at gully. The selectors persisted in Benaud, selecting him for the squad for the 1953 Ashes tour of England. He managed only eight runs in four innings in the first two Tests, and having taken only two wickets, was dropped for the Third Test. He was recalled immediately for the Fourth Test, but was dropped for the Fifth Test after managing seven runs and going wicketless. He ended the Test series with 15 runs at 3 and two wickets at 87.
Despite his inability to contribute with either bat or ball in England, Benaud was selected for all five Tests of the 1954-55 series when England visited Australia. He managed only 148 runs at 16.44, managing double figures in seven of nine innings but failing to pass 34. His bowling, used sparingly at the time yielded nine wickets at 33.11. At this stage of his career, he had played 13 Tests with mediocre results. Selected as a batsman who could bowl, he had totalled 309 runs at 15.45 without passing 50, and taken 23 wickets at 37.87 with only two four-wicket innings hauls. During the 1953 Ashes tour, he showed his hitting ability in a tour match against T. N Pearce’s XI at
Scarborough . Opening the batting, he struck an unbeaten 135 in 110 minutes, including an Australian record of eleven sixes, four of them in one over.
Australia’s selectors persisted and selected him for the squad to tour the West Indies in 1954-55. Their faith was rewarded by an improvement in performances. Benaud contributed 46 and match figure of 2/73 in a First Test victory at
Kingston . After a draw in the Second Test, he took three wickets in four balls to end with 4/15 in the first innings at
Georgetown, Guyana , before contributing his first Test half century of 68 as Australia moved to a 2-0 series lead. In the Fifth Test at Kingston, he struck a century at Kingston in 78 minutes, despite taking 15 minutes to score his first run. He ended with 121 and took four wickets in the match as Australia won by an innings and took the series 3-0. Benaud had contributed 246 runs at 41 and taken wickets steadily to total 18 at 26.94, averages which were in line with those of specialist batsmen and bowlers.
During the 1956 tour to England, he helped Australia to its only victory in the Lord’s Test, when he scored a rapid 97 in the second innings in 143 minutes from only 113 balls. Hid fielding, in particular at gully and short leg was consistently of a high standard, in particular his acrobatic catch to dismiss
Colin Cowdrey . He was unable to maintain the standards he had set in the West Indies, contributing little apart from the Lord’s Test. He ended the series with 200 runs at 25 and eight wickets at 42.5.
Benaud’s bowling reached a new level on the return leg of Australia’s overseas tour, when they stopped in the
Indian Subcontinent in 1956-57 en route back to Australia. In a one off Test against
Pakistan in
Karachi , he scored 56 and took 1/36 as Australia fell to defeat. He claimed his Test innings best of 7/72 in the first innings of the First Test in
Madras , allowing Australia to build a large lead and win by an innings. It was his first five wicket haul in a Test innings. After taking four wickets in the drawn Second Test in
Bombay , Benaud bowled Australia to victory in the Third Test in
Calcutta , sealing the series 2-0. He took 6/52 and 5/53, his best ever match analysis, ending the series with 113 runs at 18.83 and 24 wickets at 17.66. It was the first of his successes against
India , against whom he took his wickets at an average of 18. This put him in a small group of spinners whose career averages were inferior to their performances against India, generally regarded as the best players of spin in the world. At this stage of his career, he had yet to perform consistently with bat and ball simultaneously, apart from his breakthrough series in the Caribbean. He had managed in the 14 Tests since then, 559 runs at 27.95 and 67 wickets at 24.98.
After a break in the international calendar of a year, thee 1957-58 tour to South Africa was to herald the start of a phase of three international seasons when Benaud was at his peak. The tour saw his bowling talents come to the fore when he took 106 wickets, surpassing the previous record of 104 by England’s
Sydney Barnes . He scored 817 runs including four centuries, two of them in Test matches. The first of these came in the First Test at
Johannesburg , where after conceding 1/115, Benaud struck 122, his highest Test score to see Australia reach a draw. In the Second Test at
Cape Town , Benaud took 4/95 and then 5/49 in the second innings to secure an innings victory after the home team were forced to follow on. He followed this with 5/114 in a drawn Third Test, before a match winning all round performance in the Fourth Test in Johannesburg. Benaud struck an even century in the first innings, before taking 4/70 in South Africa’s reply. Following on, Benaud took 5/84 to ensure Australia a target that was chased successively. He took 5/82 in the second innings of the Fifth Test, the fourth consecutive match in which he had taken five wickets in an innings, as Australia took a 3-0 series win. He had been a major contributor to the series win, scoring 329 runs at 54.83 and taking 30 wickets at 21.93, establishing himself as one of the leading leg spinners of the modern era.
When
Ian Craig fell ill at the start of the 1958-59 season, Benaud was promoted to the captaincy ahead of vice-captain
Neil Harvey . Harvey and Benaud had been captains of their respective states until Harvey moved in the same season for employment purposes from Victoria to New South Wales and became Benaud’s deputy. Benaud had little prior leadership experience, and faced the task recovering the Ashes from an England team which had arrived in Australia as favourites. He lead from the front with his bowling, taking match figures of 7/112 in his debut as captain as Australia claimed the First Test in
Brisbane . Benaud’s men won the Second Test, before he took 5/83 and 4/94 in the drawn Third Test. Benaud produced an all round performance of 46, 5/91 and 4/82 in the Fourth Test in
Adelaide to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead and regain the Ashes, before scoring 64 and match figures of 5/57 to help take the Fifth Test and a 4-0 series result. Benaud contributed 132 runs at 26.4 and 31 wickets at the low average of 18.83, as well as his shrewd and innovative captaincy.
He then lead Australia on its first full tour of the
Indian Subcontinent , playing three and five Tests against Pakistan and India respectively. Benaud took 4/69 and 4/42 in the First Test in
Dhaka (now in
Bangladesh ), sealing Australia’s first win in Pakistan. He took four wickets in a Second Test in
Lahore that sealed the series 2-0, the last time Australia would win a Test in Pakistan until
Mark Taylor ’s men in 1998, 37 years later. Six further wickets in the drawn Third Test, saw Benaud end the series with 84 runs at 28 and 18 wickets at 21.11. Benaud made a strong start to the series against India, taking 3/0 in the first innings of the First Test in
Delhi , before a 5/76 second innings haul secured an innings victory. Benaud had less of an impact on the nest two Tests, which Australia lost and drew, totalling 6/244. He returned to form with 5/43 and 3/43 as India were defeated by an innings after being forced to follow on in the Fourth Test in
Madras . A further seven wickets from the captain in the Fifth Test saw Australia secure draw and the series 2-1. Benaud had contributed 91 runs at 15.16 and 29 wickets at 19.59. The first two seasons of the Benaud captaincy had been a resounding success, with Australia winning eight, drawing four and losing only one Test. Benaud’s personal form was a major factor in this success. In the previous seasons when he and his team were at their peak, Benaud had scored 636 runs at 31.8 with taken 108 wickets at 20.27 in eighteen Tests, averaging six wickets a match.
He took over when Australian cricket was in a low phase with a young team. His instinctive aggressive captaincy, daring approach to cricket, as well as his charismatic nature and public relations ability revitalised cricket interest in Australia. This was exhibited in the 1960-61 Test series against the visiting West Indians, in which the grounds were packed to greater levels than they are today despite Australia’s population doubling since then. The First Test in
Brisbane which resulted in the first tie in Test history, came about after Benaud and
Alan Davidson decided to risk defeat and play an attacking partnership on the final day which took Australia to the brink of victory rather than settle for a draw. He finished the series with 23 wickets. Along with the West Indian captain
Frank Worrell , Benaud’s bold leadership enlivened interest in Test cricket among a public who had increasingly regarded it as boring.
On his third and final tour to England in 1961, he was hampered by damaged tendons in his right shoulder, which forced him to miss the Second Test at Lord’s known as the “Battle of the Ridge”. In all he missed a third of the matches due to injury. Despite this impairment to his bowling shoulder, his team played with an aggressive strategy leading them only to lose one Test match and no other matches during the tour, honouring his pre series pledge. With the series level at 1-1 during the Fourth Test at
Old Trafford , it became apparent that with
Ted Dexter scoring quickly on the final afternoon, Australia would lose the Test unless England were bowled out. Benaud went around the wicket and bowled into the footmarks, having Dexter caught behind and then
Peter May bowled around his legs. Benaud’s 5/13 in 25 balls instigated an English collapse which saw Australia retain the Ashes. He finished the innings with 6/70. He finished the tour with 627 runs and 61 wickets for 23.54 . He was awarded an OBE in that year and in 1962 was named as one of the
Wisden Cricketers Of The Year .
Benaud relinquished the Test captaincy after the first Test of the 1963-64 season against the touring South Africans, and played for the rest of the series as a player, having indicated that he would retire from first class cricket at the end of the series. His last Test in charge was overshadowed by his left arm paceman
Ian Meckiff who was called for throwing by
Colin Egar and removed from the attack by Benaud after the one over. Benaud did not bowl Meckiff from the other end, and at the end of the match, Meckiff announced his retirement. Benaud was awarded life membership by the
New South Wales Cricket Association , but he returned it in protest in 1970 when his younger brother
John was removed from the captaincy. In 1967-68 he captained a Commonwealth team against Pakistan.
During Benaud’s captaincy, Australia did not lose a series, and became the dominant team in world cricket. His success was based on his ability to his tactical boldness and his ability to extract more performance from his players, in particular Davidson. He was known for his unbuttoned shirt, and raised eyebrows with his on-field exuberance. Benaud embraced his players when opposition wickets fell, something that was uncommon at the time. Benaud’s bold leadership coupled with his charismatic nature and public relations ability enlivened interest in Test cricket among a public who had increasingly regarded it as boring.
- Early in his career, he hit 100 runs against the West Indies in 78 minutes, the third fastest Test century of all time (in terms of minutes at the crease, not balls faced) and the second fastest by an Australian. Fastest Tests Centuries and 50s at Cricinfo
- Benaud was in charge for the inaugural 1960-61 Frank Worrell Trophy against the West Indies , a series that included the famous Tied Test .
- Benaud's highest Test batting score of 122 was made against South Africa, Johannesburg , 1957 - 1958
- His best Test bowling effort of 7 for 72 was against India , Chennai , 1956 -1957
- He captained Australia in 28 Tests: 12 wins, 12 draws, 4 losses
- In 1963 became the first Test player to complete the double of 200 wickets and 2,000 runs. He is one of only 10 Australian cricketers to have scored more than 10,000 runs and taken over 500 wickets in First-class Cricket .
- He ended his Test career in Sydney with statistics of 248 wickets (the Test record at that time) at 27.03 and 2,201 runs at 24.45.
After the 1956 England tour, Benaud stayed behind in London to take a
BBC presenter training course. He took up a journalism position with The Sun, beginning as a police roundsman before becoming a sports columnist. In 1960 he made his first radio commentary in the
United Kingdom at the BBC after which he moved into television.
After retiring from playing in 1963, Benaud turned to full-time cricket journalism and commentary, dividing his time between Britain (where he worked for the
BBC for many years, prior to joining
Channel 4 ) and Australia (for the
Nine Network ). Overall he played in or commentated on approximately 500
Test Matches , as he himself noted in one of his final interviews in Britain when asked if he would miss Test cricket.
The idea for what became his trademark, wearing a cream jacket during live commentary, came from Channel 9 owner
Kerry Packer , who suggested the look to help Benaud stand out from the rest of the commentary team.
He also helped to design a computer based parody of himself available for download off
Channel 4 's website called
Desktop Richie . It was developed by the software company
Turtlez Ltd. Having downloaded this, cricket fans would be treated to live Test match updates and weather reports from a
Cartoon version of Benaud with real voice samples such as "Got 'im!" and "That's stumps... and time for a glass of something chilled." On Channel 4's live commentary, Benaud often makes sarcastic comments regarding the advertisement of Desktop Richie.
In 2004, Benaud starred in a series of
Television Advertisement s for the Australian Tourism Commission, aimed at promoting Australia as a tourist destination. Benaud's ad featured him in various scenic locations uttering his signature comment, "Marvellous!". He also appeared in '' a video in which he chooses his own XI. A limited version was shown on the Nine Network after a match between Australia and Pakistan.
Benaud has become a staunch advocate of cricket being available on free-to-view TV. He chose to end his British commentary career, which spanned more than 42 years, when the rights to broadcast live Test match cricket were lost by Channel 4 to the subscription broadcaster
British Sky Broadcasting . Thus, the 2005
Ashes series was the last that Benaud commentated on in Britain. His final commentary came near the end of the final day of the 5th Test at
The Oval . His last goodbye was interrupted by
Glenn McGrath taking
Kevin Pietersen 's wicket; Benaud simply wove his description of the dismissal into what he was already saying. Benaud intends to continue spending the
Northern Hemisphere summer in Britain writing, and will continue working for the Nine Network.
Benaud commentated for the BBC TV highlights of the 2006-07 Ashes in Australia as part of his continuing commentary work for Australia's
Nine Network .
Benaud's book ''My Spin on Cricket'' was published in 2005.
His younger brother
John also played Test cricket for Australia.
His commentating is frequently parodied on the Australian comedy series
Comedy Inc. and
The Twelfth Man . In the case of the latter, comedian
Billy Birmingham 's impersonations of Benaud on The Twelfth Man comedy recordings has become legendary, spanning over twenty years.
In 1967 Benaud married Daphne Surfleet who had worked for the English cricket writer
E. W. Swanton . Both had been married previously and Richie had two sons from an earlier marriage. They own an apartment in
Coogee, New South Wales and a villa in the
French Côte D'Azur where they spend about half of each year.
- ''Good morning everyone''
- ''Captaincy is ninety percent luck and ten percent skill, but don't try it without that ten percent''
- ''There were congratulations and high sixes all round''
- ''Laird has been brought in to stand in the corner of the circle''
- ''And it's time for a glass of something chilled''
- ''Marvellous!''
- ''Two for twenty-two (a reference to the comedy series The Twelfth Man in which humourist Billy Birmingham sends up the accent Richie uses to say ''"Two for twenty-two"''
