Famous Cricketers No 100 - Richie Benaud

As a bowler, Benaud’s action was characterised by a confident, easy approach that culminated in a very side-on, high arm delivery action. He wasn’t a huge turner of the ball - estimates on how much spin he achieved range from a couple of inches to a foot. Early in his Test career he bordered on becoming that most maligned of cricketing types, the straight-breaker. An in-joke amongst England players was to say ‘he bowled me a Benaud!’ after receiving a ball that failed to turn. Garfield Sobers provided a more charitable analysis when he wrote that if Benaud had turned the ball a long way, he would have been absolutely unplayable, the best leg-spinner ever, and by some distance. His greatest weapon, then, was his accuracy. He constantly practiced using a simple Clarrie Grimmett trick of looking at the place he wanted to pitch the ball. At his peak in the late fifties, his control was astounding for a wrist-spinner. He utilised every inch of his relatively tall frame, and surprised batsman with the amount of bounce he extracted, particularly on the faster Australian wickets. His straight-arm action denied him some of the prodigious side-spin a spinner like Shane Warne can achieve, but he kept batsman guessing with his subtle variations of pace, angle and height of delivery. His flipper took years to perfect and was a lethal delivery. As England’s Tom Graveney recalled: “It skidded onto you. If it caught you on the back foot it nailed you before you could do anything else”. Until a delivery had been practised to the point where he had complete control of it, he was unwilling to use it in a match situation. While Benaud is best remembered for his bowling and captaincy, during the first phase of his career he was considered to be more a batsman. Over the course of his career, his batting was very much secondary, although there were some glory days, most notably the 1957/58 South African tour, where he was promoted to number four and struck two Test centuries. He always scored quickly and in entertaining fashion, possessing an ability to “make the medium-pacer’s good-length ball as harmless as if delivered by the hand of a child”. A willingness to pull and hook and strong driving were features of his game, as was an expansive follow-through. Benaud was never the most technically correct batsman and early in his career was somewhat hamstrung by an awkward stance and a backlift that Ray Robinson colourfully likened to a “guide’s finger guide pointing out the sights of the city.” This technical deficiency was largely compensated for by a good eye and unflagging aggression. Studying the stance and technique of Keith Miller was also an important part of his development as a batsman. State team-mate Neil Marks recalls an innings at club level when Benaud proved himself a capable batsman on the uncovered wickets sometimes found in Sydney grade cricket in this era: “with a combination of technique and guts, Benaud hit the ball as little as possible, took the knocks, got through the tough part and when the wicket dried out, thrashed a strong Northern Districts attack into submission.” One also gets the impression that the faith selectors had in Benaud was not exclusively based on his batting or bowling skills. His on-field demeanour was unfailingly positive and set him apart from his peers. Opponents remember him always giving the impression he was doing something, plotting a batsman’s downfall, tinkering with his field, encouraging team-mates, though this appearance of productivity never became frenzied panic; he was noted for his unruffled cool . His fielding was also brilliant, especially close to the wicket at short-leg, in the slips and at gully. His appeals were exuberant and animated, in an era when polite enquiry was more the norm. He embraced team-mates who had taken a wicket, a habit that was frowned upon by old-timers but undoubtedly appealed to the younger members of the crowd and contributed to team spirit. He wore his collar up and shirt unbuttoned to the navel and must have seemed the very embodiment of youth – a necessary ingredient for both a team that was ageing and a game that was going stale. Intriguingly, many of Benaud’s better performances in his earlier years came when he was forced out of his comfort zone. His century for the Australian XI against Western Australia came after a smallpox injection rendered him all but unable to bend his arm. His blitzkrieg ton at Scarborough came when he was in the unfamiliar role as opener and his first Test century came when he was distracted by an illness in the family. Likewise, he went into the First Test against India in 1956 7