Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud The years from 1949 to 1964 are sometimes termed ‘The Benaud era’ by cricket historians. This is partly for reasons of historical neatness as Benaud entered first-class cricket just as Bradman retired and exited when the Chappell brothers were coming onto the scene and ushering in a new phase in Australian cricket. It is also a measure of his tremendous influence and his success in grafting his personality and cricketing philosophy onto the Australian team as he led them back to the heights of world cricket. Yet, in his early years, only the most ardent of supporters or the most visionary of observers would have suggested Benaud would one day become an epoch-defining player. To read through Benaud’s statistical record is to chart his development from underachieving Shield player to the world’s finest leg-spinner and arguably its foremost captain, a player who revived both the fortunes of the Australian team and the popularity of a flagging game. The astounding improvement he made is testament to one who worked tirelessly and intelligently and ultimately more than repaid the faith selectors had shown in him. As Gideon Haigh has written “Few cricketers have matured so gradually yet ripened so fruitfully.” Benaud in his backyard – The early days Richard Benaud was born on 6 October, 1930, in Penrith, then a small town west of Sydney. If a distant French lineage seems an unlikely background for an Australian Test cricketer, then his early years were the stuff Australian stories are made of. He remembers a happy childhood, during which he was encouraged, but never pressured, to play cricket, amongst a host of other sports. His family was stationed at Koorawatha, then Jugiong, both villages in central New South Wales where his father, Lou, was a school teacher. Irene, Richie’s mother, made the long journey with Lou to Penrith for Richie’s birth. Initially, he was a sickly child. The doctor later remembered that “I let that little fellow go home to die. He must have wanted to live”. Before long, Richie was back to full health and playing cricket with a home-made bat. He spent endless hours playing imaginary Tests in his backyard, keeping score for all the players and ensuring that Australia always won. He also played cricket for Jugiong Primary school, making 11 in his first innings. In the late 1930s the Benauds moved to Parramatta, where Richie continued with his cricket, his efforts for Burnside Primary school sometimes making it into the local paper. Benaud junior bowled either off-spin or medium pace at this time, Lou having instructed him that young bowlers should not try to bowl leg spin before their skills and bodies had sufficiently developed. The first big game Richie ever saw was a Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and South Australia in January 1940. They travelled to the game by train and a rickety tram from Central station. Waiting for them was a cricketing clash to dream of : Don Bradman versus Tiger O’Reilly at the Sydney Cricket Ground. More than thirty thousand spectators, the largest Shield crowd ever, packed the grandstands, forcing the Benauds to sit in the aisles and watch as the wily veteran Clarrie Grimmett took six wickets. He made a huge impact on the young Benaud, who went home wanting to become a leg-spinner. Richie attended Parramatta High School and made it into the first XI at just 14. The following year he was named captain and enjoyed some success with his ‘slow-spin’ deliveries, taking hauls of 5/32, 4/33, 4/33, 3/29 and 2/27. He was also selected to play in the Combined High Schools team that year and made 27* and took 2/13 for the representative team. His opponents in the C.H.S matches included a promising young pace bowler named Alan Davidson. Richie also contributed an article to the school paper, a light-hearted look at how to play cricket, which concluded by saying “skittles is probably easier”. In 1946, his last year at school, he led his team to the High School Premiership, prompting the school paper to describe him as an “excellent captain and inspiration to the team”. It went on to say “It is doubtful if any schoolboy has performed so well in High School cricket”. He was awarded a ‘Blue’ for his efforts, which included 553 runs at 92.2 with 3 centuries and 43 wickets at 10.3. Unfortunately 4