Love cricket or not, Richie Benaud was part of family life

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/12/richie-benaud-golden-silence

Version 0 of 1.

In the torrent of tributes following the death of Richie Benaud last week, we learned from scores of friends and colleagues that he was not just a brilliant, record-breaking cricketer and commentator. He was part of Australia’s cultural consciousness, a legend, an icon, a comfort, the consummate professional, the greatest exponent of the Golden Silence, a very shrewd old owl, the master of the pause, the voice of calm and a biblical figure with the status of a prophet who had raised the bar of both the game and sporting commentary to new heights. We can only imagine what the man who advised trainee broadcasters never to forget the first rule of commentary – “Put your brain in gear before opening your mouth” – would have made of it.

“It’s interesting you use the word comfort there,” remarked BBC presenter Alison Mitchell to one of the guests on her Radio 5 special on Friday. She was referring to Richie’s support for Kerry Packer’s controversial World Series Cricket project, the Down Under equivalent in nation-splitting terms of the Scottish referendum.

Overnight, it had divided audiences between old-fashioned loyalists determined to continue watching all-day cricket matches with players in traditional white togs on ABC and defectors to the brash, newfangled limited overs travesty, to be broadcast on Channel 9. Here, not only were their favourite macho batsmen and bowlers playing at night under floodlights but, heaven forbid, they were going to be dressed in pink. Fluorescent bloody pink.

This was back in 1977. Richie’s playing career had ended with his retirement 13 years earlier in favour of broadcasting and consultancy work. Multimillionaire Packer naturally hired the best consultant in the business. Richie’s popularity within the Australian cricketing establishment, his reputation as a gentleman and now his presence in the Packer camp was a huge comfort to the defectors. If Richie was backing Packer, it must be legit. Fifty thousand people swarmed into Sydney Cricket Ground to see the first World Series match, which Richie thereafter often described as one of the great moments in his life.

Of all the generous words heaped on Benaud’s handsome head over the past three days, the one that probably best describes how most people regard him is comfort. And that also applies to those (this writer included) who know absolutely nothing about cricket. Mitchell’s brain was very much in gear when she identified its importance amid all the guff. Wiser and wittier commentators than Richie Benaud – think John Arlott, Aggers, Blowers, Jonners – have royally entertained us over the years from commentary boxes at Lord’s, Trent Bridge and Old Trafford.

But right now we are remembering Richie with such bittersweet nostalgia because at a stroke his voice takes us back to our childhoods, when life was so much simpler, when you knew it was summer because Dad and Richie together were watching the Test match on TV in the sitting room with the curtains drawn.

He had been around for so long he was part of your family, your life. Only the reassuring, “comforting” pace of terrestrial cricket – no ads, no smart phones, just Richie occasionally, laconically telling you what’s happening. Few provide that sort of comfort any more.