Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

(4) not out 6 68-2 33 14 82 5 T.L.Goddard lbw 144 C.B.van Ryneveld b D.J.McGlew b P.R.Carlstein lbw P.S.Heine lbw 152. Australians v South African Universities, Cape Town, March 8, 10, 11 (Match drawn) (6) c D.P.Marais b D.B.Pithey 0 289 18.2 7 31 3 G.D.Varnals b 110 1 D.B.Pithey c and b R.K.Ridgway c L.E.Favell did not bat - 51-1 13 3 25 1 P.J.Muzzell b 310-6d SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 5 7 1 329 122 54.83 2 - 5 Other matches 13 13 3 488 187 48.80 2 - 13 Tour 18 20 4 817 187 51.06 4 - 18 Career 152 212 20 7090 187 36.92 17 32 143 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Test matches 242.1 56 658 30 5-49 21.93 4 - Other matches 500.6 131 1398 76 7-46 18.39 7 2 Tour (8b) 742.7 187 2056 106 7-46 19.39 11 2 Career (8b) 2576 489 } 12862 506 7-46 25.41 27 4 (6b) 1741.4 498 1958/59 This season saw Benaud handed the reins of the national side, a decision which, it must be said, did not meet with universal jubilation. Journalist Frank Browne noted the appointment was particularly unpopular in Melbourne, where a common refrain was ‘Benaud is captain, and down go Australia’s chances’. Meanwhile, an English writer cabled home his opinion that the board’s choice of Benaud was “muddle-headed and stupid”. The reaction of English captain Peter May upon hearing that Benaud would be his rival was presumably more restrained, though it seems he did not rate Benaud as a major threat with the ball. He assured his team that Benaud would not turn the ball much and they would have few problems if they played down the line. Benaud’s team were rank outsiders, with some critics even suggesting May’s team would defeat a combined Rest of the World team. Instead, Benaud’s men pulled off one of the great Ashes upsets and won the series 4-0. But only the most patriotic of Australian cricket supporters consider this a vintage series. The five matches were characterised by dull play, most notably Trevor Bailey’s infamous Brisbane innings, where he accumulated just 68 runs in 7 hours and 38 minutes. The First Test saw May’s Englishmen roundly condemned for their defensive tactics, but the scorecard suggests the Australians were also guilty of dragging the chain. Their over rates were slow and at times their stonewalling was torturous; Jim Burke took 250 minutes to score 28 runs in the second innings and had been only marginally better in the first. Even the normally free-wheeling Benaud played an innings notable only for its tedium, his 16 runs taking 81 minutes, slower even than Mackay. While Benaud received plaudits for his poise in the new role, and took seven wickets including a spectacular caught and bowled off Richardson, it seems that it took a while for him to mould the side into the attacking unit it so famously became. In Melbourne, Benaud finally won the toss and sent England in to bat. The move seemed especially touched with hubris given that Peter May had made Australia bat in Adelaide and lost; his decision being thunderously condemned by Bill O’Reilly as “one of the biggest boners of all time”. Len Hutton was amongst those aghast by the decision: “Is Richie Benaud trying to do the impossible ? Is he trying to rub the bitterest of salt into English wounds ?...Benaud, knowing the history of such attempts has dared the fates.” One group that was impressed by Benaud’s leadership was a group of Collingwood children, whose game of street cricket featured a perfect imitation of the umbrella field 42