Benauds decline state funeral offer

Richie Benaud will be farewelled at a small, private, family gathering this week after his wife Daphne phoned Canberra to inform the Prime Minister's office that her husband had not wished to be the subject of a state funeral.

The Prime Minister Tony Abbott had publicly announced the offer on Friday as the world mourned the death of Benaud at 84. But Daphne indicated it had always been her husband's preference to be sent off in an understated manner, in keeping with his preservation of privacy and restraint over a life of more than 60 years in the public eye.

"I thought it was important that as a mark of the respect that we have long had for him that we should offer a state funeral," Abbott told reporters on Sunday. "But my understanding is that Richie's own wishes were for something very, very quiet, and something very, very private."

Having met through their work in newspapers and television - Daphne had been the secretary of the English cricket writer EW Swanton - the Benauds were steadfast companions over more than four decades. Richie paid special tribute to Daphne when he was inducted into Australian cricket's hall of fame in 2007 and, on Sunday, Daphne spoke of their relationship.

"Richie was a lot of fun," she told the Sunday Telegraph. "But there's a better way of putting it. I was a cricket fan from way back and I first saw him play when I went to Headingley on the '53 tour. I was still at school in England, I thought the English team were boring, but the Australian team had so much spark. I thought 'gosh'.

"By '67 we were married and it was a partnership right from the very beginning. We were writing all the time, doing the journalistic thing and television.

"What I loved about Richie right from the beginning was his dryness of wit. I didn't fall hook, line and sinker, but our relationship grew gradually. We'd often sit there saying nothing, like when we went to the Bradmans to visit Don and Jessie, I never said a word. I've always been a better listener and that seemed to work well. We spent a lot of time in silence and we were both happy with that."