Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Test matches 169.1 37 449 12 5-68 37.41 1 - Sheffield Shield 137.5 32 457 10 3-77 45.70 - - Other matches 65 19 163 4 2-72 40.75 - - Season (8b) 371.6 88 1069 26 5-68 41.11 1 - Career (8b) 4976.2 1119 } 23066 932 7-18 24.74 55 9 (6b) 3322.1 1082 1963/64 – E.W.Swanton’s XI in India Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 254. E.W.Swanton’s XI v Indian XI, Calcutta, April 12, 13, 14, 15 (E.W.Swanton’s XI won by seven wickets) (7) c C.G.Borde b B.S.Chandrasekhar 18 321 28 10 87 0 348 (4) c sub b C.G.Borde 69 243-3 17 1 38 3 A.K.Roy c M.A.K.Pataudi 215-8d 1 C.G.Borde c and b R.G.Nadkarni lbw SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Other match 1 2 0 87 69 43.50 - 1 1 Career 254 359 44 11432 187 36.29 23 57 250 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Other match (6b) 45 11 125 3 3-38 41.16 - - Career (8b) 4976.2 1119 } 23191 935 7-18 24.80 55 9 (6b) 3367.1 1093 1967/68 – Commonwealth XI in Pakistan Benaud seems to consider the end of the 1963/64 season as the end of his career, though these matches for the Commonwealth XI are considered first-class fixtures. In correspondence with the author, Benaud explained why he returned to the game after apparently retiring: “The real incentive…was that Tony Lewis was to be vice-captain and I knew it would be a fun tour with some good hard cricket played”. He was also influenced by Alex Bannister’s presence as tour manager and despite not having played top-level cricket for three years before this tour, Benaud’s performances were laudable. Although old shoulder and back injuries severely hampered by his bowling, he could still bat without any discomfort and turned back the clock with four attacking half-centuries in his six innings. Team-mates tell an anecdote from this tour where the team was travelling to one of the grounds by bus when they were suddenly hit by another vehicle. Amid much calamity, with everyone screaming and streaming forward to see what had happened, Benaud simply got up, dusted the broken glass off himself and moved to another seat. He continued to read his book through the whole ordeal. This tour was not the last cricket Benaud ever played. In 1974, Queensland grade side Valleys invited him to appear in their limited-overs team. One of the few regrets of Benaud’s playing career was that he never got to play in this form of cricket and this disappointment and the fact that old pal Alan Davidson was playing convinced Benaud to join up. The famous pair enjoyed a successful year and Valleys went on to win the competition. The following season both Benaud and Davidson returned only to find that “The young opponents who had treated the odd grey-haired couple with a certain mixture of levity and awe in the first year now got stuck into it”. Still, the team made it into the semi-finals, where Benaud sustained a painful hamstring injury. The old competitive instincts had not died and Benaud spent a week icing the injury to ensure he could play in the final. With the help of some old Benaud magic and some miracle slips catches from Davidson, Valleys triumphed again. 63