Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

winning record of Mark Taylor or Steve Waugh, but nor did his teams have the depth that those fine leaders commanded. The game goes on – Life after retirement His playing days finally over, Benaud remained as enthusiastic towards the game as the 12 year old that scored for Cumberland second grade and occasionally made it onto the ground as substitute fielder. He reported on the game for newspaper, magazines and radio. He was never a lyrical phrase turner in the vein of Neville Cardus or A.A Thomson, but his reasoned opinions, broad knowledge and practical suggestions for improving the game rank him alongside Bill O’Reilly, Jack Fingleton, Tom Horan and Arthur Mailey as amongst the best ex-players to have turned to cricket journalism. While Benaud does not court controversy in his writing, as some ex-players appear to do, he has also been unafraid to offer criticism where he believes it is warranted, most notoriously when he denounced West Indian paceman Charlie Griffith’s action as illegal. He also wrote several books, most notably Willow Patterns, a collection of charming reminisces of his team-mates and opponents. Another standout work is his A Tale of Two Tests , the Dickensian allusion in the title fitting for a book that details two matches featuring narrative twists and turns which could scarcely have been bettered by the master novelist – the tied Test at Brisbane and Australia’s Ashes-winning triumph at Manchester in 1961. Benaud’s description of that fabled last day in Brisbane has been included in a number of cricket writing anthologies and was recently described in The Guardian as “one of the most taut, gut-wrenching and virile pieces of writing on a subject, sport or otherwise”. In 1998, he published Anything but an autobiography , a comprehensive and entertaining trawl through his cricket life. All his books are also notable for their lucid criticisms of cricket administrators past and present as well as their dry, understated humour. He was also editor of a long-running cricket yearbook that ran from 1984 to 1996. As well as his own books and reportage, Benaud often writes forewords for other authors. He has written at least thirty such introductions, including many cricket biographies and general histories as well as a horse racing form guide and a recent book profiling an Australian Olympic doctor. Such is his prolific nature as a foreword writer that the satirical diary of fictional cricketer Warwick Todd comes with the disclaimer: “Not featuring a foreword by Richie Benaud” Benaud’s own contributions to literature are well known, but he has also made a few appearances as a subject. He made a cameo appearance in Chris Daffey’s autobiographical novel “A Girl, A Smock and A Simple Plan”, where the narrator, a youngster whose enthusiasm for the game is by no means matched by ability, fantasises about “sitting next to the cream-suited one downing tea and biscuits and chatting about how I did it all for the love of the game.” The same year, a radio play titled “I’ll write to Richie Benaud” appeared, telling the story of a young Downs Syndrome sufferer who considers Benaud an oracular figure and wants to write to him for advice every time he is unsure of what to do. Then there is Alan Ross’ poem “Watching Benaud Bowl”, an elegantly written piece on the contemplative mood watching a spinner often conjures and one of the best reflections on sport as a metaphor for life. Completists may also like to note the Richie Benaud All-stars, perhaps the only pub rock band to be named after a cricketer. Living in the Seventies – The Wanderers tour and World Series Cricket A less-documented aspect of Benaud’s cricket life was his role as manager of the 1975 International Wanderers, which toured South Africa and Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). His side included players 9