Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. Following his retirement from international cricket in 1964, Benaud became a highly regarded commentator on the game.
Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending 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. He became the first player to reach 200 wickets and 2,000 runs in Test cricket, reaching the milestone in 1963.
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."
Early years Benaud was born in Penrith, New South Wales, in 1930. He came from a cricket family, with his younger brother John Benaud also going on to become an Australian Test cricketer. His father Louis, a third-generation Australian of French Huguenot descent, was a leg spinner who played for Penrith District Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket, gaining attention for taking all twenty wickets in a match against St. Marys for 65. Lou later moved to Parramatta region in western Sydney, and played for Cumberland. Benaud also used to live in Coraki, NSW.
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. 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.Benaud, pp. 33–38. This was the only match he played for the second-string state team that summer.
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. At the start of the 1949–50 season, he was still in the Second XI, but when the Test players departed for a tour of South Africa soon afterwards, vacancies opened up. Benaud was recalled to the New South Wales First XI in late December for the Christmas and New Year's fixtures. With Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller and Ernie Toshack, three of Australia's leading four bowlers from the 1948 Invincibles tour of England unavailable, Benaud bowled heavily in some matches. However, he did not have much success in his five games, taking only five wickets at 54.00.
He took the wicket of Queensland batsman Bill Brown in his third match of the season. Benaud erroneously recalled in an autobiography that this was his maiden wicket—it was, in fact, his fourth—and described the ball as "the worst I ever bowled".Benaud, pp. 41–43. He had more success with the bat, scoring 93 and narrowly missing a century against South Australia. He added another fifty and ended with 250 runs at 31.25.
For the next season, England toured Australia, and with the Test players back, Benaud was initially forced out of the team. He was recalled for a match against the Englishmen. He was attacked by the touring batsmen, taking 1/75 from 16.5 overs in his first outing against an international outfit. His only wicket was that of the all-rounder Trevor Bailey. He scored 20 not out and was not called on to bowl in the second innings.
In the next Shield match against Victoria, led by Australian captain Lindsay Hassett, Benaud came in for attack. Hassett was known for his prowess against spin bowling, being the only batsman to score centuries in a match against the leg-spin of Bill O'Reilly, regarded as the finest bowler of his age. Hassett struck 179 in four hours, and took 47 runs from Benaud's seven overs. The young leg spinner claimed Hassett in the second innings when a ball landed in a crack and skidded through onto his foot. He ended with 3/56, the first time he had taken three wickets in a match.
In the next match against South Australia, he made 48, took 4/93 and 1/29 and suffered three dropped catches by the wicketkeeper in successive balls. Benaud was cementing his position and was in the senior team for four consecutive matches even with the Test players available. He was selected for an Australian XI match against England, in what was effectively a trial for Test selection, but suffered a chipped bone in his thumb. This put him out of action until the last match of the season,Benaud, pp. 44–46. leaving him with little opportunity to impress the national selectors for his rise to international cricket. Benaud returned and scored 37 and took a total of 2/68 in the final match, ending the season with 184 runs at 36.80 and 11 wickets at 34.63.
Early Test career
The 1951–52 season saw a tour to Australia by the West Indies. Benaud was given a chance against the visiting team when New South Wales played them in Sydney after the First Test. On a green pitch, Benaud came in at 7/96 and featured in a century partnership in only an hour, making 43 himself. The Caribbeans were skittled for 134 in reply and went on to lose the match, although they attacked the young leg-spinner, who took 1/130 in total from 36 overs. Benaud scored his maiden first-class century, 117 against South Australia, in the next match, two years after falling short of the milestone by seven runs. In the next four matches, Benaud passed 15 only once, scoring a 34, and took only seven wickets. Up to this point, in seven matches for the season, the young all-rounder had only scored 307 runs at 27.90 and taken ten wickets at 64.80.
Despite this, Benaud was chosen for his Test debut in the Fifth Test against the West Indies in 1951–52 in Sydney. At this point, Australia had already taken an unassailable 3–1 series lead and decided to try out some young players. Selected as a batsman, he scored 3 and 19. Hassett allowed him to bowl only in the second innings, when nine West Indian wickets had fallen and Australia were on the verge of an inevitable victory. Leading opposition batsman Everton Weekes edged Benaud in his first over, but Gil Langley dropped the catch. Benaud went on to dismiss tail-ender Alf Valentine for his first Test wicket, conceding 14 runs from 4.3 overs.Benaud, pp. 46–47. Benaud ended his season with 97 and a total of 3/39 in an innings win over South Australia.
For the following Australian season in 1952–53, Benaud started modestly; and, in the five first-class matches before the Tests, he scored 208 runs at 26.00, including a 63 and 69, and 14 wickets at 38.64. This included figures of 2/70 and 4/90 against the touring South Africa. However, this was not enough to ensure his selection in the First Test, where he was made 12th man. After scoring 60 and 37 and taking 1/60 in an Australian XI against the South Africans following the Test, he was selected for the Second Test.Benaud, pp. 59–61. He suffered a smashed gum and a severely cut top lip when a square cut by John Waite in the Third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground hit him in the face while he was fielding at short gully.
Doctors told him he was lucky: it could have broken his cheekbones, jaw or removed his eyesight if it had hit any of the surrounding areas. It could have killed him if it had struck him where his skull was previously fractured. He married after the match and had to mumble his wedding vows through a swathe of bandages.Benaud, pp. 64–66. Benaud went on to play 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 on his starts, with a top score of 45. His leg spin yielded ten wickets at 30.60, with a best of 4/118 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide when he was given a heavy workload, totalling 58 overs, when Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller broke down during the match.Benaud, p. 67. In another match for New South Wales against the touring team, he took a total of 5/95.
Up to this point, his first-class batting average was below 30 and his bowling average close to 40, and he had never taken more than four wickets in an innings or six in a match.
The selectors persisted in Benaud despite his unproductive Test performances, selecting him for the squad for the 1953 Ashes tour of England. He had been seventh and eighth in the domestic run-scoring and wicket-taking aggregates for the season, but was yet to convert this into international performance. He justified their decision prior to the team's departure, scoring 167 not out and taking match figures of 7/137 for the touring team against a Tasmania Combined XI, his wickets including Test batsmen Miller, Ian Craig and Neil Harvey. He also put on 167 in a partnership with Alan Davidson, the first collaboration between the pair, who would later go on to lead Australia's bowling in the last five years of their career.Benaud, pp. 68–72. Benaud struck an unbeaten 100 and totalled 1/64 in the next match against Western Australia before the Australians departed for England.
On arrival in the British Isles, Benaud quickly made an impression with both bat and ball. After scoring 44 and taking 2/66 in the opening first-class match against Worcestershire, the all-rounder starred in his next match, against Yorkshire. He scored 97 in Australia's only innings and then took 7/46 in the hosts' first innings as the Australians took an innings win. Although his form with the willow dropped off in his remaining six matches before the Tests—a 35 was his only score beyond 20 in seven attempts—Benaud continued to strike regularly with the ball. He took 18 wickets in these matches, including 3/20 and 3/37 against Oxford University, 5/13 against Minor Counties and 4/38 against Hampshire. This was enough for him to gain selection for the start of the Tests.