Richie Benaud: cricket’s best friend – as all-rounder, captain and commentator

In an extract from the new book Benaud in Wisden, Rob Smyth pays tribute to a colossus of the game whose wit, nous and decency shone through on the field and in the commentary box

In his foreword for The Wisden Anthology 1978–2006, Richie Benaud wrote: “Wisden tells us everything about the game of cricket, always has.” The compliment is easily returned. Few have ever spoken about the game with as much knowledge or authority. Benaud read his first Wisden during his first Ashes tour in 1953; his name has appeared in every Almanack since, whether as player, commentator or writer.

One of his essays was a tribute to the great Australian all-rounder Keith Miller in Wisden 2005. “ Keith Miller’s statistics … are maybe those of a very good cricketer, but not a great one,” he wrote. “Those who look at them, examine them closely and then give something of a wave of the hand, miss the point in the way that some people now dismiss Victor Trumper. Trumper’s batting average is ordinary compared to those who spend vastly more time at the crease, but much less time enthralling, entertaining, bemusing and imprinting themselves on the minds of cricket followers.”

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