Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Other matches (8b) 16 4 } 602 12 3-99 50.16 - - (6b) 198.1 65 Career (8b) 4604.4 1031 } 21997 906 7-18 24.27 54 9 (6b) 3322.1 1082 1963/64 “No ball!” With those two words Ian Meckiff’s world was turned asunder and an ugly issue which had simmered throughout the past few summers finally erupted. He had been called for throwing, the same sorry fate which had befallen South African Geoff Griffin and Pakistan’s paceman Haseeb Ahsan a couple of years earlier. After Meckiff was called, a shaken Benaud replaced him and did not bowl him at the other end. This angered the crowd, who felt that the captain should have allowed the other umpire to judge Meckiff’s action, though Egar would have been well within his rights to call Meckiff from the bowler’s end. At any rate, Meckiff, the man in the eye of the storm, did not hold any grudge against Benaud’s decision. The Victorian retired shortly after this Test, bringing an end to one of the most sour chapters in the game’s history. Benaud has always believed cricket to be the most controversial of all games and the Meckiff incident vindicates that belief and also overshadowed a significant personal milestone for him. In the second innings, Benaud made 43 and thus reached the 2000 runs and 200 wicket mark. He was the first player to achieve this, which remains a source of some pride. It was also his last Test as captain. Benaud missed the second Test in Melbourne through injury and was replaced as leader by Bob Simpson. Knowing that this would be his last Test series, Benaud told Bradman that he didn’t see the point in resuming the captaincy, only to hand it back to Simpson a couple of Tests later. Bradman agreed and the infamous Test at Brisbane was Benaud’s last as captain. Simpson also took over the leadership of the New South Wales side. He later wrote that Benaud had “bent over backwards” to make the transition a smooth one, explaining that Benaud had made a point of involving him in tactical discussions during the later stages of his career. His batting remained strong in his final series, with one highpoint being his partnership with Graham McKenzie in the Third Test at Sydney, where the pair added 160 runs for the 7th wicket, establishing a new Australian record. Benaud ended up with 90, his highest Test score on home soil and McKenzie made 76. Incidentally, both would finish their careers the highest and second highest wicket-takers for Australia in Test cricket. Benaud retired from Test cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he had watched the greats as a boy and where his career had begun some fifteen years earlier. He left the field to generous applause from team mates, opponents and the crowd, the cheers ringing out until he reached the dressing room. Sadly, the SCG hill was all but bare that day due to a bus driver’s strike. But there were no regrets: “If I had my time over again I would do exactly as I have done”. This year also saw Richie appear in an instructional book written by his father, titled ‘The Young Cricketer’. In a series of posed photos, Richie demonstrated how to correctly play all the batting strokes, no doubt to the amusement of the purists who could always be heard muttering that young Benaud needed to get his elbow higher and straighten up his backlift. The book also included Benaud senior’s thoughts on captaincy (“can hardly be learnt out of a book”) and sportsmanship (“See if you can be the one who will help to keep alive the spirit of cricket”). The book proved hugely popular with youngsters and was reprinted several times. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 244. New South Wales v Queensland, Brisbane, October 25, 26, 28, 29 (Match drawn) * (6) c A.T.W.Grout b J.R.E.Mackay 80 661 24 5 98 2 G.R.Reynolds b 613 T.R.Veivers c J.W.Martin - - - - 27-1 61