If there is one word to describe Richie Benaud, it is influential. If Australia were in the midst

of a slump following Sir Don Bradman’s retirement, then it was Richie Benaud who pulled

Australia out of the darkness and helped them become the top team that they were. If his

influence in the game was great, then his contributions outside the game make him greater.

Benaud made his first class debut in 1948/49 for New South Wales and was soon battling

for his life. During the match against Victoria in Melbourne, he was hit on the head by a ball

from Jack Daniel. This resulted in a skull fracture and he was side-lined for the whole season.

With the progress of time, Benaud started cementing his position in the NSW team and soon

earned a Test match debut in 1951, despite moderate success.

His starting years in Test cricket did not yield much success. However, during the 1953/54

summer, Beanud had a prolific run in domestic cricket. During that season, he scored 811

runs at an average of 62 and he also picked up 35 wickets. This rich form also translated in

good returns in Test cricket and his breakthrough series was the West Indies tour in 1955.

His 121 in the final Test helped Australia clinch the series 3-0 and he contributed consistently

with the ball. Overall, his average of 41 with the bat and his 18 wickets at an average of 27

signalled the arrival of Benaud.

However, if there was one country which Benaud excelled against, it was India. The team

that had a formidable reputation against spin had no clue against Benaud in the 1956 series.

In three Tests, he picked up a staggering 23 wickets, including his only 10 wicket haul as

Australia won the series 2-0. He would do more damage to India during the 1959 series as

he picked up 29 wickets in five games at an average of 19. If one looks at the career statistics

of Benaud, he picked up 52 wickets in eight Tests in India at an average of 18, a truly

remarkable achievement.

Another remarkable achievement of Benaud is that Australia never lost a series when he was

captain. He was already in the peak of his performance during 1957 during the tour to South

Africa. He had scored 329 runs at an average of 55 while he also picked up 30 wickets. His

captaincy period started from the Ashes in 1958/59 and he showed tremendous skill and

shrewdness while captaining the team. Under Benaud, Australia secured the Ashes. From

then on, Australia would win five consecutive series until 1961.

An example of his shrewd and bold captaincy was during the 1960/61 series against West

Indies, a series that changed cricket. During the first Test at Brisbane, Benaud decided to go

after a challenging target of 233. At 92/6, it seemed West Indies held the upper-hand but a

134 run stand for the seventh wicket between Benaud and Alan Davidson got them closer to

victory. However, Benaud departed and the tail wilted as the match was tied. This was the

first ever tied Test in history. Benaud’s captaincy had made Test cricket a lot more attractive

and Australia managed to win a nail-biting series 2-1.

As the middle part of the 60’s approached, Benaud was plagued with injuries and he retired

from international cricket after the completion of South Africa’s tour in 1964.

Benaud was a thorough analyst of the game and he was interested in journalism. After

the end of the 1956 series, he joined a training course as a presenter in the BBC and was

also a sports columnist at the News of the World. In 1960, he had his first stint as a radio

commentator for the BBC before moving into Television. He worked for the BBC and for

Channel 9 in Australia. Such was his mastery over the language and his analysis was so

thorough, it gave people the feeling that they were listening to ‘The Godfather of cricket

commentary.’

If television commentary has a template of the Do’s and Dont’s in cricket, they all emerge

out of Richie Benaud, a cricketer, captain and commentator par excellence.