Richie Benaud

Did You Know?

• Benaud's father Louis, a leg spinner, took all twenty wickets in a match for Penrith District Cricket Club against St. Marys for 65.
• Benaud learned to bowl leg breaks, googlies and topspinners under his father's watch.
• In his later career, Benaud added the flipper, a combination of the googly and top spinner passed to him by Bruce Dooland.

Early Test career

Benaud got his first look at the West Indians when New South Wales faced them in Sydney after the first Test of the 1951–52 summer. The pitch was green, and he walked in with his side at 7 for 96. He helped put on a century stand in just an hour, making 43. The tourists were bowled out for 134 and lost, though they went after the young leg-spinner, who finished with 1 for 130 from 36 overs.

In his next match, Benaud raised his maiden first-class hundred, 117 against South Australia. Over the following four games, he managed only one score above 15, a 34, and picked up just seven wickets. For the season, his seven matches yielded 307 runs at 27.90 and ten wickets at 64.80. Still, he was picked for his Test debut in the fifth Test against the West Indies in Sydney.

Australia had already locked up the series 3–1 and wanted to blood some younger players. He went in as a batsman, making 3 and 19. Captain Lindsay Hassett only let him bowl in the second innings, when nine West Indian wickets were down and victory was near. Everton Weekes edged his first ball, but wicketkeeper Gil Langley put it down.

Benaud eventually got his first Test wicket, tailender Alf Valentine, finishing with 1 for 14 from 4.3 overs. He closed the season with 97 and 3 for 39 in an innings win over South Australia. The next summer, 1952–53, Benaud started quietly. In five first-class games before the Tests, he scored 208 runs at 26.00, with a 63 and a 69, and took 14 wickets at 38.64, including 2 for 70 and 4 for 90 against the touring South Africans.

That wasn't enough for a spot in the first Test, where he was twelfth man. After scoring 60 and 37 and taking 1 for 60 for an Australian XI against South Africa, he got into the side for the second Test. In the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, while fielding at short gully, he took a square cut from John Waite to the face, smashing his gum and cutting his top lip badly.

Consolidation

Returning from his first trip overseas, Benaud had a standout 1953–54 Australian season, which featured only domestic matches. He was key with both bat and ball as New South Wales won the Sheffield Shield, the first of nine straight titles. In the season opener against Queensland, he made 158 and took 5/88 and 1/65. In the return fixture, he hit an unbeaten 144 and claimed 2/55. Later, in a testimonial for Hassett, he played for Morris’s XI, scoring 78 and 68 and taking 5/238, dismissing Davidson and several Test batsmen. He finished the summer with 811 runs at 62.38 and 35 wickets at 30.54.

When England toured in 1954–55, Benaud was the only bowler picked for all five Tests. He earned his spot after scoring 125 against Queensland early in the season, though his form in two matches against England for New South Wales and an Australian XI was poor. At that point, after 13 Tests, his numbers were mediocre: 309 runs at 15.45 with no fifty, and 23 wickets at 37.87 with just two four-wicket hauls. Still, when Ian Johnson and Keith Miller missed the second Test in Sydney due to injury, Benaud was promoted to vice-captain, leapfrogging several senior players, while Arthur Morris took over as captain. He also made 113 for the Prime Minister’s XI against the English.

The selectors stuck with him for the tour of the West Indies in 1954–55, and he improved. In the first Test in Kingston, he scored 46 and took 2/73 in a win. After a drawn second Test, he took three wickets in four balls, finishing with 4/15 in the first innings in Georgetown, then made 68—his first Test half-century—as Australia went 2–0 up. In the fifth Test, also in Kingston, he reached a century in 78 minutes, ending with 121, and took four wickets as Australia won by an innings to take the series 3–0. For the series, he scored 246 runs at 41 and took 18 wickets at 26.94.

Later career

When Richie Benaud became captain, Australian cricket was struggling and the team was young. He brought an instinctive, aggressive style of leadership and a bold approach to the game, combined with a charismatic personality and a talent for public relations. This combination reignited public enthusiasm for cricket in Australia. The effect was clear during the 1960–61 Test series against the West Indies, when stadiums were more packed than they are today, even though Australia’s population has since doubled.

The first Test in Brisbane produced the first tie in Test history, a result that came about because Benaud and Alan Davidson chose to chase victory rather than accept a draw. On the final day, Australia was in trouble at 6 for 92, needing 233 runs. At tea, the score was 6 for 109, with 124 still needed and only tailenders left. Benaud told selector Don Bradman he would still go for the win, sticking to his policy of aggression.

He and Davidson then launched an attacking partnership. They hit regular boundaries and ran quick singles, pushing the score to 226—a seventh-wicket stand of 134. With just seven runs needed and four wickets left, Benaud drove the ball into the covers. They went for a quick single, but Joe Solomon’s direct hit ran out Davidson.

Australia needed six from the final over. Benaud was caught, and the last two wickets fell to run outs as the batsmen tried to complete the winning run.

Media career

After the 1956 Ashes, Benaud remained in London for a BBC presenter training course. He then joined the News of the World as a police roundsman before becoming a sports columnist. In 1960, he did his first radio commentary for the BBC in the UK, later moving into television. When he retired from playing in 1964, he became a full-time cricket journalist and commentator, working across Britain—first for the BBC and later for Channel 4 from 1999—and Australia for the Nine Network.

He estimated that he played in or commentated on about 500 Test matches. Benaud openly criticized the Chappell brothers for their actions after the 1981 underarm bowling incident. In 1999, he left the commentary booth at Lord's as New Zealand neared a Test victory, letting former New Zealand captain Ian Smith call the win. Other memorable moments he covered included Shane Warne's "Ball of the Century," Ian Botham's all-round performance in the 1981 Ashes, Dennis Lillee surpassing Benaud's wicket record and later reaching 300 and 310 wickets, and Andrew Symonds tackling a streaker.

The idea for his signature cream or white jacket came from Channel 9 owner Kerry Packer, who wanted him to stand out. Benaud also helped design "Desktop Richie," a downloadable computer parody on Channel 4's website, created by Turtlez Ltd. It featured a cartoon Benaud giving live Test updates and weather reports with voice samples like "Got 'im!" and "That's stumps... and time for a glass of something chilled." On air, he often made sarcastic remarks about the Desktop Richie ads.