Memorable lines from Benaud and Greig's commentary careers
On the occasion of Richie Benaud and Tony Greig's birthdays, we look back at some memorable lines from their commentary careers
ESPNcricinfo staff
06-Oct-2018
ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Apart from being two of cricket's leading lights in broadcasting who enthralled viewers with their voice and wit from time to time, Richie Benaud and Tony Greig also shared a birthday. Benaud would have turned 88 today, Greig 72. And what better way to celebrate their birthdays than a trip down memory lane, through some of their most famous lines on air.
"Morning, everyone"
Benaud's greeting at the start of a Test match remains among his signature lines.
"They'll probably need Gillette to work on one of those Gillette G2 double-edged swivel heads to get through those valleys they have got here."
Greig, who made pitch reports an art form, in one of his more memorable ones, where he used a key and a scythe.
"There was a slight interruption there for athletics"
Benaud finds his own inimitable way to describe a streaker being man-handled by Andrew Symonds.
"Gatting has absolutely no idea what has happened to it ... he still doesn't know!"
Benaud's soundtrack to Shane Warne's 'Ball of the Century' to Mike Gatting remains among the most memorable pieces of cricket commentary.
"The little man has hit the big fella for six! He's half his size!"
Sachin Tendulkar's "Desert Storm" in Sharjah was incredible on its own, and Greig's dramatic descriptions etched all of it in cricket fans' collective memories.
"They're dancing in the aisles in Sharjah."
Greig captures the mood in the stadium during Tendulkar's assault on Australia.
"And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just 98 runs short of his century"
The best of Benaud's classic understatement and dry wit in one line, to describe McGrath's ineptitude with the bat.
.@ESPNcricinfo Mike Atherton hit in the unmentionables.
— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) April 10, 2015
Hadlee: 'And that ball did bounce Richie'
RB: 'Which one, Richard?'
"He's not quite got hold of that one. If he had, it would have gone for nine."
A Justin Langer six gets the Benaud treatment as it sails over the fence.
"India have won in dramatic style! The whole of Bengal are on their feet!"
India's historic win in the 2001 Kolkata Test, in Greig's words.
"Changing behind the bowler's arm? That's enough to put any batsman off."
Npower sponsor girls by the sightscreen distract the players and Greig during the 2005 Old Trafford Ashes Test.
"Don't bother looking for that, let alone chasing it. That's gone straight into the confectionary stall and out again"
Benaud was on air during Ian Botham's rampaging assault in the 1981 Headingley Test. The expression later became eponymous with one of ESPNcricinfo's blogs.
"A disgraceful performance from a captain who got his sums wrong. It should never be permitted to happen again. One of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field"
Greg Chappell's infamous decision to ask his brother Trevor to bowl underarm in a one-day international got scathing criticism from Benaud.
Benaud, who was regarded as one of the greatest broadcasters of all time, had nuggets of wisdom on the dos and don'ts of television commentary.
"What I want most from being a television commentator is to be able to feel that, when I say something, I am talking to friends"
On how he thought of his audience while on a TV broadcast.