'Vale the Maestro'

Writing for the Guardian, Greg Chappell explains the influence of his boyhood hero Richie Benaud.

Even to a 10-year-old Benaud had an air about him. He was cool and aloof, but when I approached him cautiously to collect my first ever autograph he couldn't have been kinder and warmer. I was a fan from that day and followed his career closely, even modelling myself on him by becoming a leg-spin bowling all-rounder!

Michael Clarke writes in the Daily Telegraph that Richie Benaud "loved seeing Australia have success, but more importantly he wanted the game played the right way."

Even in recent times, Richie was very close to the current group of players and I was fortunate enough to spend some time over the years with him to just talk cricket. Regularly we would sit together and chat at the Allan Border Medal about attacking captaincy, spin bowling and many topics in between.

What an amazing man he was. Richie is an idol to so many people because of the way he handled himself both on and off the field. He was an enormous presence for those who play and love the game.

Benaud spoke as little as needed, was as meticulous as he was warm, and his desire to complement the game endeared him to fans and fellow commentators alike. Mike Selvey, in the Guardian, writes how even the occasional embellishment could be easily forgiven.

There was always mild amusement when he talked about a bowler sending down a "leg-cudder" and "rolling his fingers across the seam" to do so, when we knew the ball had just gone off the seam in the first place. He was investing in them a skill they did not possess, but in so doing was adding mystique. There were times, too, when he could enter the world of hyperbole and invention, but even then it merely seemed to add gravitas and deep knowledge.

As a captain, Benaud was precise and approachable and as a commentator he became an institution and an icon writes Geoffrey Boycott, in the Telegraph

I remember once, when England had been beaten very badly by Australia at Lord's. The next day there was a Natwest match televised at Edgbaston, and at teatime someone thought about Tony Lewis interviewing Richie to get an Australian view, to fill 15 minutes of the interval, which is a long time on TV. Tony Lewis said to Richie, 'What do England have to do to improve?' Richie replied, 'They have to practise their batting, their bowling and their fielding'. Tony said, 'Anything else?' Richie said, 'No, that's enough to be going on with'. Then there were 13 minutes left to fill!

In his piece for the Telegraph, Henry Blofeld writes that Benaud was a world champion both on the field and in the commentary box

When Benaud, the leg spinner, brought up another close fielder it was the product of as much perception and preparation as when Benaud, the commentator, paused for a purposeful 10 seconds. Less gifted colleagues would have rambled on without adding anything very much.

No one can have understood the game as well or have appreciated better what was required at any given moment of a player or a commentator. Indeed, the two roles required many common qualities to carry off, of which humour, patience, unflappability, persistence and, of course, ability were the most important.

Greg Baum writes in the Sydney Morning Herald how Benaud the commentator was more famous than Benaud the player, and how he has silently influenced cricket broadcasters and fans alike.

But Benaud never was a sycophant. Of this, there was a recent reminder. In the lead-up to the Australia-New Zealand World Cup final, the media default was to revisit the infamous underarm incident of 1981. That night, Benaud was unsparing. "I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain who got his sums wrong today," he said. "I think ... it was one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field."

Benaud the cricketer was as Benaud the commentator, a little apart from and above the rest. For an appreciation of his cricket, we must turn to that oldest form of technology, the written word. Benaud blossomed slowly, as leg-spinners did then, but always with a clear idea about how the game should be played. He took a poorly performing Australian side and made it successful again, and took a game that had fallen into stasis and made it vibrant again.