Life without Richie is unthinkable
Richie Benaud has confirmed he will step down as a commentator in 2010 and Gideon Haigh writes in the Australian that the idea of cricket without him seems unthinkable.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Richie Benaud has confirmed he will step down as a commentator in 2010 and Gideon Haigh writes in the Australian that the idea of cricket without him seems unthinkable.
But so did the idea of cricket without Arlott or Alan McGilvray, and the game marched on. This way, too, Benaud gets in ahead of the questioners, of whom some had begun gathering. The pithy Rodney Hogg recently compared Benaud with a 1960s LP "that you can't play any more because it has a scratch on it".
Instead, there is time for the composition of suitably expansive tributes. When Benaud signed off in England for the last time, at The Oval in 2005, players and spectators turned as one towards the commentary position to give him a standing ovation. The Nine Network is normally a little more sentimental and bathetic, although for Benaud it might make an exception: he has been a centre of gravity rather than a centre of levity.
Benaud tells AAP he is surprised by all the fuss created after his decision while Steve Crawley, Channel Nine’s head of sport, opens up in the Daily Telegraph about the life of Richie.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo