Cricket Discussion - Part 1

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LEGENDARY cricket commentator Richie Benaud has died at the age of 84. In honour of his memory, we've pulled together his 10 greatest lines in the commentary box.
Speaking of pulling, how about this for an opener:
1. “He’s usually a good puller but he couldn’t get it up that time.”
That’s just one of many moments of comic genius Benaud has provided over the years.
He’s occasionally took the mickey out of players.
2. “Well, Bruce Reid is not the worst batsman there is at international level? But those who are worse would not need to hire the Myer Music Bowl to hold a convention.”
3. “And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just ninety-eight runs short of his century.”
4. (On a Justin Langer six) “He’s not quite got hold of that one. If he had, it would have gone for nine.”
And he delivered some other classic lines as well.
5. “The slow-motion replay doesn’t show how fast the ball was really travelling.”
6. “His throw went absolutely nowhere near where it was going.”
7. “Laird has been brought in to stand in the corner of the circle.”
8. “There were no scores below single figures.”
9. (After a streaker ran on the field): “There was a slight interruption there for athletics.”
And who can forget the way he accompanied Shane Warne’s Ball of the Century in 1993.
10. “Gatting has absolutely no idea what happened to it. (He) still doesn’t know.”
 
A tribute to Richie Benaud, from Billy Birmingham:

It was always my hope that Richie would get a standing ovation at every Test ground in Australia whenever he announced his intention to hang up the 50 Shades of Beige jacket once and for all.

But unfortunately that bloody Sunbeam Alpine got in the way!

It’s hard to put into words the way I’ve been feeling since I heard Richie “From The Body Of The Same Name” Benaud has passed away.

Very sad. Quite nauseous, actually. Struggling to find the right words. Disoriented.

What is the appropriate response to the passing of a man who has been such an integral part of your life, your career, your identity for more than 30 years?

How are you supposed to feel when the bloke with whom millions associate you has delivered his last “chew for chwenty chew”?
I know I won’t be alone in feeling this way. Richie has occupied a special place in our homes and our hearts for decades. The world changed so much over that time. Richie didn’t seem to.

The hair was always cut halfway over his ears and fastidiously swept across from one side.

The cream, bone, white, off-white, ivory and beige wardrobe was unchanging.

The “Welcome back to the MCG” intro was almost reassuring in its familiarity.

And the calls of “Marvellous!”, “Shuuuper effort, that!” and “What a catch! What. A. Catch!” were the soundtrack to summer for generations of Australians.

Richie certainly had some reservations about my 12th Man stuff over the years. My colourful use of language didn’t sit too well with a man who always tried to exude an image as white as his jacket.

That said, as an old media man from way back, he couldn’t fail to see how the 12th Man albums were transforming him into a cult hero, and Nine’s cricket coverage into one of the most iconic broadcasts in Australian TV history.

I was nervous about the first album. It didn’t have my name on it, because I naively thought that if I left it as The 12th Man, Richie wouldn’t know where it came from.

Then I got a call out of the blue from a Melbourne disc jockey called Kevin Hillier. He said he knew it was me on the record, he’d sent Richie a copy to listen to over the weekend and he was interviewing him the following Monday.

I’d hoped the record would have a bit more time to get some airplay and sell a few copies out in store just in case an injunction was slapped on me! But the horse had bolted. So I listened to Richie’s interview on Melbourne radio station 3XY.

It went something along the lines of: “My wife and I have been listening to it all weekend in the flat. We’ve just packed it in our bags before we head to England. We’re looking forward to playing it over there. I’m sure everyone will be rolling around with laughter.”

I was absolutely thrilled.
In the early days, I would send Richie a copy of each album upon release, figuring that attack was the best form of defence. He would write me letters in response - on that beautifully embossed “Benaud & Associates” letterhead of his - critiquing my work like it was a bloody Broadway stage production!

Here’s what he wrote to me after the Wired World of Sports was released:

“Dear Billy,

“Thanks for the cassette and record of your latest creation.

“Plus mark, excellent entertainment as always. Minus mark, the same as last time. A bit too long, too much swearing for the sake of it and Chappelli’s voice still not right.

“But in a word: brilliant.

“Kind regards and good luck,

“richie.”

And this is what he wrote after The 12th Man Again was released:

“Dear Billy,

“Thanks for the LP, tape and CD of the ‘12th Man Again’.

“The usual critique follows, the fee for which will be $A87,000 (to this day, I have no idea what this meant or where the amount came from).

“There are some wonderfully funny and brilliant sequences again and the production is excellent.

“Demerit marks: too much swearing just for the sake of swearing. In this, I’m right on the side of your daughter with her published remark about Daddy using the F-word ... and possibly your mum as well! (I used to record at home and my daughter heard me swearing and reported it to mum. Mum then had to explain that it was part of daddy’s work!).

“Some of the voices don’t seem quite right, particularly Chappelli’s again. It seems I have a voice that is easy to copy. But in general terms, other than Greigy, they don’t seem quite as spot on this time.

“I see you’ve hit Number 1 again. Perhaps I should reconsider my retirement!

“In a word, as the tautology kings would say, wonderfully amusing.

“Cheers and salaams,

“richie.”
I found it interesting that he always signed in fountain pen and spelled his name in all lower case letters. But what a fabulous piece of correspondence for me to receive from the great man.

For a bloke who spent so much of his life in the media, he remained a private man. Richie wasn’t a fan of people fussing over his work or accomplishments. I remember getting a call from 60 Minutes once asking whether I’d be part of a story they were wanting to do on Richie. “Sure,” I said. No sooner had I hung up than the producer was back on the blower to tell me Richie had no interest at all in the idea of being on 60 Minutes! The flagship program on his own network!

I must admit that I was quite shocked to see how his health had deteriorated when we shot his brilliant Australia Day “lamb” commercial together at the start of the summer.
The first thing I noticed was that his always impeccably coiffed hair had succumbed to the ravages of chemotherapy. Then, when I put my arm around him and felt just how much he had wasted away, I was profoundly shocked and saddened. The recovery from the accident in the Sunbeam had clearly taken it out of him but he was now facing an even bigger battle as his years of playing cricket hatless had resulted in skin cancer.

There was something in his eyes, too. If you asked him how he was, the reply was always along the lines of, “Pleased to report I’m on the mend.” But you knew that was stoicism, not reality. I was bloody amazed that he even had the strength to show up at all.

How thrilled I was to have been able to catch up with the great man one more time and to be a small part of his fabulous TV ad.

I took the piss out of him for more than 30 years and now here I was working with him on what turned out to be his last major project.

How marvellous!
It’s hard to imagine there is another Australian out there as universally loved as Richie. It was a kind of affection that isn’t conditional on cricketing skills or commentary work. People just adored the man.

That’s why everyone gives their mate a knowing nudge when the scoreboard ticks over to 2-22, why entire sections of the crowd don silver wigs and beige jackets at the Sydney Test each year, why reciting Richie’s commentary gems has become a national pastime.

Rest in peace, Richie.

Incomparable, irreplaceable, the one and only (he didn’t like the word ‘doyen’).
 
My mate The Airport Economist sent me a link to this article he wrote on The Footy Almanac site which also does cricket and other non footy codes sports stuff - about his chance encounter with Richie at the SCG in about 2008. It's reflective of my mate not liking to cause a fuss but just wonderfully highlights Richie's understated and dry tone.

An unusual Richie Benaud memory from the Sydney Cricket Ground

I was once invited to a club function at the SCG for the Sydney Swans. They told me just to tell the man at the door/gate that you are invited officially and I should “bring a copy of my book The Airport Economist for Richard” meaning Richard Colless the Swans chairman.

I got to the gate & said to the doorman I was invited and I have a book for Richard.

The doorman said “well Richie is right behind you so give him the book now”

I turned around and there was Richie Benaud and his wife Daphne.

So I gave a puzzled Richie the book and the doorman said “Sorry Richie, I didn’t realise he was with you” and let me in. I was then escorted by a confused Richie and an amused Daphne (who put my book in her handbag) to the function room.

I then found my host, former Swans and West Coast Eagles ruckman Jason Ball, so I could reassure Daphne and Richie that I was no gate crasher.

Some weeks later I saw Richie and Daphne again at another function, and Richie (who was a trained journalist), to my embarrassment remembered the incident vividly, said he enjoyed “his accidental gift” but he mostly wanted to know whether Richard Colless got his copy.

Thanks for the memories, Richie Benaud.

Tim Harcourt 10 April 2015, Sydney.


 
My mate in his article above mentioned Richie was a trained journalist. What many dont know was that Richie was the police rounds man reporter for the old Sydney Sun newspaper. So in the 1950's and early 1960's there was Richie, star test cricketer and then captain of Australia and he would be rocking up to murder scenes, car crashes, bank robberies etc and get the story from the police and from witnesses. Could anyone see Border, Taylor, Waugh Ponting, Clarke etc do that?? I had been watching Richie for maybe 12-15 years before I found out that was his job when playing test cricket paid poorly that you couldnt be a professional at it in Oz.
 
sartorial splendor

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Very Richie - his family has turned down the offer of a state funeral and will have a small family funeral. I think there will be some sort of public memorial maybe a couple of weeks or a month after his death.

Bill Lawry on a radio interview said he didnt think anyone other than Daphne and his kids probably really knew Richie. He was slightly aloof from everyone. For me that was part of his charm.
 
Very Richie - his family has turned down the offer of a state funeral and will have a small family funeral. I think there will be some sort of public memorial maybe a couple of weeks or a month after his death.

Bill Lawry on a radio interview said he didnt think anyone other than Daphne and his kids probably really knew Richie. He was slightly aloof from everyone. For me that was part of his charm.
Loved the channel 9 special on Richie's life. He really was one in a million: there'll never be another quite like him.
 
Good start for England in the First Test against the Windies. Ramdin won the toss, and curiously decided to bowl first. It seemed a good decision when the Poms slumped to 3 for 34 (Trott, Cook and Ballance out cheaply). But Bell scored a century, while Stokes and Root contributed half centuries to leave the visitors at 5 for 341 at stumps.
 
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Dizzy Gillespie named as new Strikers coach... get the **** in!! :D
Great news but the Strikers aren't one of the biggest loser sides in the comp for the last decade or so, we desperately need him to commit to rebuilding the Deadbacks ODI/Shield sides he's the type of figurehead that could lure a few necessary big name batsmen & bowlers from interstate.
 
Great news but the Strikers aren't one of the biggest loser sides in the comp for the last decade or so, we desperately need him to commit to rebuilding the Deadbacks ODI/Shield sides he's the type of figurehead that could lure a few necessary big name batsmen & bowlers from interstate.
A mate told me this morning that the SACA is looking for somebody to coach the Strikers, and somebody else to coach the Redbacks - mainly because the Berry experiment failed so dismally. Thing is, who has better credentials than Dizzy Gillespie right now: if anybody can do both jobs, it's him.
 

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Great news but the Strikers aren't one of the biggest loser sides in the comp for the last decade or so, we desperately need him to commit to rebuilding the Deadbacks ODI/Shield sides he's the type of figurehead that could lure a few necessary big name batsmen & bowlers from interstate.
quite frankly, strikers, who cares, just a meaningless comp with no bearing on the real issues of fixing south australian cricket. i think its pointless signing him to a six week deal just for t20 cricket, that will achieve nothing, we need a massive shake up at all levels and we need someone willing to come here and do it. dizzy for 6 weeks in a t20 comp will barely scratch the surface, we need him here full time.
 

ozph1870

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A mate told me this morning that the SACA is looking for somebody to coach the Strikers, and somebody else to coach the Redbacks - mainly because the Berry experiment failed so dismally. Thing is, who has better credentials than Dizzy Gillespie right now: if anybody can do both jobs, it's him.
funny thing is berry coached the redbacks to a t20 championship and also got the strikers into a gf, it was the one day (except the time they won..) and shield teams that struggled while he was here, maybe we should have kept him just for t20. noy really, it was time to move on.
 
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