Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

1954/55 Expectations were high when Len Hutton’s team came to Australia in 1954 to defend their Ashes but pre-tour predictions of an entertaining series and a better showing by the Australians did not eventuate. Hutton’s team won few admirers with their largely negative approach, though they did win the series. Jack Pollard remembers Hutton “approached every match grimly determined not to take a single risk” and before the series he openly told some members of the media that he planned to use slow over rates as a key tactic. Hutton’s caution was partly pragmatism, as his bowling attack lacked depth and partly fear of failure, borne of a realisation that any mistake he made would bring howls of condemnation from those that had disapproved of a professional player being appointed captain of England. Hutton did however have one great fast bowler in Frank Tyson, who worried the Australians all summer with his searing pace, none more so than Benaud, whose wicket he claimed three times. Benaud’s quick reflexes were amongst his most valuable physical attributes as a player, yet Tyson was simply too quick for him a number of times and Hutton hammered home this advantage, routinely introducing Tyson whenever Benaud came to the crease. Benaud had first seen ‘the Typhoon’ on the 1953 Ashes tour when he was twelfth man for the match against Northamptonshire and was snapped out of his deck-chair torpor by the explosive bowling of a then-unknown Tyson, who crashed through the Australian top order. Interestingly, after watching the likes of Thomson, Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee, Benaud still considers Tyson the quickest bowler he has ever seen. He continued to dominate this series and fought back after being struck by Ray Lindwall with a superb display of pace bowling which won England the second Test. They eventually took the series 3-1. Benaud had started the summer in fine touch, scoring 125 against a Queensland attack that included both Ray Lindwall and Ron Archer. In this innings, Benaud showed maturity and versatility, impressing one observer as he “tempered his natural aggression to anchor the innings”. This newfound maturity was put to the test in Sydney, when Benaud was surprisingly named vice-captain to Arthur Morris after Ian Johnson and Keith Miller had been ruled out through injury. For Benaud, this unexpected elevation and the signs of improvement his play showed were scant consolation. His cricketing holy grail, the Ashes, were as elusive as ever; he had still only played in a single Test victory over England. Although it is not shown in his figures, many observers felt that Benaud had improved as a player since the last Ashes series, though he was still somewhat prone to impatience with his batting. Typical was his innings in the third Test, where Australia was set a modest run chase to win the match. Benaud went in as nightwatchman and compiled a watchful 22. Next morning however, he went to pull a Tyson delivery that was not quite short enough; his rash stroke dragged the ball back on to his own stumps and Australia begin its slide to defeat. Alan Ross, in his wonderfully evocative tour diary Australia 5 5, wrote that Benaud “looked greatly improved since he was in England, much sounder in defence, upright and fluent in attack”. Ross regarded Benaud as a player of much potential, though he felt the leg-spinner should have flighted the ball more on occasion. A less generous assessment came from Sid Barnes, a former captain of Benaud’s, who blasted him a “woeful failure” and a bowler “entirely out of his class in Test cricket”. There was a restricted Sheffield Shield program this summer, a failed experiment aimed at reversing declining attendance. He also snaffled six catches against Victoria in Melbourne, the most any fieldsman had taken since the amazing (but largely forgotten) Hugh Trumble took seven way back in 1900/01. In the few State games he did play, he made 194 runs but only took five wickets at 55.20. He made only a couple of appearances for the club side, but made quite an impression in the few games he did play, topping both the batting and bowling averages for the side. He also managed to finish second in runs scored in only 6 innings, with centuries against both Gordon and Waverley. 26