Few have had such an impact on the game of cricket as Richie Benaud.
One of the best all-rounders of his generation and Australia’s Test captain for six years, Benaud went on to become the voice and face of the sport for millions of fans in Australia, England and across the world with a highly successful move into broadcasting.
Described as perhaps the most influential cricket personality since the Second World War, Benaud stands shoulder to shoulder with Don Bradman as one of the greatest Australians to have ever been involved with the sport.
As a player Benaud was a leg-spinner, known for his aggressive lower order batting. Together with teammate Alan Davidson, he helped restore the fortune of Australia as a Test-playing nation after several years in the doldrums in the early 1950s.
In 1963, he became the first to do the 2oo wicket-2,000 run double in Test cricket, at a time when the volume of international matches was lower than now.
Benaud made his test debut in 1952 against the West Indies and soon became a regular fixture in the side. In 1958, after scoring the second of his three Test centuries, he was elevated to captaincy. He quickly became known for his attacking style of play that has since become the trademark of successful Australian sides.
Australia never lost a Test series under him.
But he had already had half an eye on his future, attending a BBC journalism training course while still at the height of his playing career. It was there that he began to develop his warm, smooth affable style that was to characterise his broadcasting for more than 40 years, with a delivery that was a gift to impressionists.
One of Benaud’s gifts with the microphone was not too say too much and only to use words to add to what was happening in screen.
And he had a gift with words that saw some of his one-liners pass into sporting legend.
When Australian tailender Glenn McGrath was dismissed for two, Benaud commented wryly that he was just ‘ninety-eight runs short of his century’, while a big six from Ian Botham was described as going ‘straight into the confectionery stall and out again’.
Perhaps the biggest tribute that can be paid to Benaud is that he became almost as beloved in Britain as in Australia, and that, when he died in 2015, he was equally mourned in both countries.