Leigh Matthews was once described as having ‘no natural predators’ in Aussie Rules. The same description could be applied to Richie Benaud.
His death at 84 has saddened the entire community – whether people like cricket or not.
A great all-rounder and captain, he became family for 50 years as he broadcast cricket into lounge rooms across two countries.
Yet what has amazed me in the last 24-48 hours is the universal respect for Richie and his work.
As fanatics of sport, Australians generally have very strong opinions on their commentators with even the best generally having equal numbers of supporters and detractors.
Richie however, seems to have the universal support of all who watched and listened to him.
So why was Richie Benaud so admired? The answer comes down to three traits that defined him.
The style
The Channel Nine commentary team that dominated from the late 70s until the early 2000s was a success in the fact its personalities were so contrasting.
The team had a straight-shooting commentator in Ian Chappell, a gregarious outsider in Tony Grieg and an excitable lover of drama in Bill Lawry.
Richie Benaud on the other hand, was different.
He spoke when only when words could do the picture justice and his economy with words would rival the economy rates of any great Test bowler.
With his paucity of words came a sense of humour as dry as a Day 5 subcontinent pitch and a description of the game that was so different to what we expected.
Benaud left the noise and the extroverted commentary to those who suited it and developed his own style.
In later years as more commentators became part of the Nine stable, Benaud’s commentary stood out much more and became more respected as his voice became more contrasting in a room full of similarity.
The commentary
Today we are accustomed to our best commentators being the ones with the loudest voice or the ones who are willing to say or the most controversial statements.
Benaud didn’t need to raise his voice or manufacture controversy in order to command respect or generate viewers.
People hung off his words because they came from a combination of his vast knowledge of the game and his stature with the cricketing fraternity.
Look at his commentary from the infamous ‘underarm’ incident in 1981.
Benaud did not spare Greg Chappell as he savaged the tactic without raising his voice or falling victim to hyperbole.
In simplistic terms he called it for what it was; a poor decision by a man who panicked in the moment and without doubt ensured that the moment became indefensible.
Fast forward today and Shane Warne’s blistering assessment of Mitchell Starc last summer was Benaud-esque in it being straight forward and truthful.
This statement was greeted with a blistering attack on Warne’s credibility from all angles despite his analysis having some credence.
If Benaud had made the same assessment, not one person would have dared disagree such was his knowledge and reputation.
The personality
It is well forgotten that Benaud was a handy cricketer and captain.
He was the first man to do the 2000 runs/200 wicket double, the highest Australian wicket taker for around 20 years and he never lost a series as Test captain.
But when you listened to him commentate, you’d have never felt he was such a giant of the game.
Benaud was unassuming, modest and genteel throughout his 35 years as captain of the Channel Nine commentary team.
He voiced his knowledge of the game in a manner of conversant friend rather than a pompous know-it-all.
He educated without lecturing and critiqued without hectoring the public.
Across all sports, experts with a tenth of Benuad’s stature and reputation have fallen victim to arrogant commentating.
Richie never lost sight of what his job was as a commentator and never disrespected the viewer.
Ask anyone who’d met the man and they’ll tell you his personality off-camera is the same as the one he brought to the microphone.
As a warm individual without ego, Australians invited him into their lounge rooms and treated him as if he was family.
It’s been a sad summer as not only have we lost a big part of our future in Phil Hughes but we’ve lost a part of our collective childhoods.
I hate to be clichéd but summers will just never be the same again without Richie.
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