A legendary cricketer and the voice of the cricket with the microphone in hand, Richie Benaud was a face known to many and a voice heard by all cricket enthusiasts.
The Australian captain for the 1961-62 Ashes series became a huge loss to the cricketing fraternity when he died in April this year.
Richie will always be remembered as one of the most attacking Australian captains who was never afraid of taking the extra risk to win matches. Representing Australia in 63 Tests, the legendary leg spinner dismissed 248 batsmen. The first cricketer to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets in Test matches.
The all-rounder played a crucial role in the formation of World Series Cricket in 1977 which transformed the game of cricket at the International level.
In 1960, while he was still playing the game, Richie took a microphone in hand for the first time with the BBC and the rest, as they say, is history.
The traditional way in which Richie greeted the audience before the start of a morning Test match, "Morning everyone! A beautiful day here at the SCG," will always be missed by every ardent cricket lover. The legendary commentator had his own style and class of commentary. Richie's mantra, in his own words, was "put your brain into gear and if you can add to what's on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up."
Some of the gems from Benaud’s mouth are: "And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just 98 short of his century"; "(Mike) Gatting has absolutely no idea what has happened to it… He still doesn't know!" said the witty commentator on Shane Warne's ball of the century in 1993. At 84, Benaud died after a long fought battle with skin cancer.