Richie Benaud Quotations

From our broadcasting box you can't see any grass at all. It is simply a carpet of humanity.

In fact, as a spin bowler, you have to work on the batsman over after over.

The hallmark of a great captain is the ability to win the toss, at the right time.

Any captain can only do his best for the team and for cricket. When you are winning, you are a hero. Lose, and the backslappers fade away.

My mantra is: put your brain into gear and if you can add to what's on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up.

When my hair is long enough to be cut, I go to my wife's hairdresser, and she generally pays for it.

The slow-motion replay doesn't show how fast the ball was really travelling.

Captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent skill. But don't try it without that 10 per cent.

I know it's more five-star now than it was then, but it's still a difficult tour. In the same way as India and Pakistan players find it difficult coming to Australia. People sometimes have difficulty believing that.

A cricket ground is a flat piece of earth with some buildings around it.

Media were never allowed into an Australian dressing room until I became skipper. I changed that and invited them in at the close of play each day, thereby confirming for many administrators they had appointed a madman as captain.

'Mullygrubber' is an Australian term which means something that creeps along the ground; it's like a little grub.

The problem with relying on nostalgia for commentary is that people only remember the good things.

Writing is difficult all the time; the thing is to learn something every day.

The only thing that really annoys me is when all of a sudden you hear yourself on the radio advertising Smith's tyre shop or Blenkinsop's jam. They simply can't do that. And in Australia, occasionally I have to take action.

Rory Bremner I have no problem with; he is a satirist, and a very funny one, too.

But I think the only thing that annoys me about that is if I suddenly find someone on commercial radio or something like that, mimicking my voice or actions and trying to promote a product and pretending it's me doing it.

Coogee is a delightful, slightly old-fashioned suburb; it has parks and gardens and reserves, a good well-kept beach, and an excellent promenade above the beach. It is a suburb for people who appreciate those aspects of life.

It was sad leaving the BBC; not quite like being divorced, but you don't leave after a period stretching from 1960 to 1999 without feeling a certain number of pangs.

Let's just say that at 74 I'm in the mindset that, having been free-to-air, I want to stay free-to-air.

Because out in the field, you haven't got anyone whispering into your ear saying all sorts of things, you've got to do it yourself.

If it was me, I probably wouldn't be saying anything.

He would have been keen about the crowd here today - a packed house. Kerry was a great character, a really great character, so my life would have been less interesting without having known him all those years.

He looked at me for a long time and just turned and said 'Thanks', though whether that's 'Thanks, but no thanks' or 'Thanks, thanks', I don't know.

His throw went absolutely nowhere near where it was going.

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.

But now that the series has been decided, the teams were well matched but Australia got a surprise.

We first met during the formation of World Series cricket. There was never anything mundane or orthodox about him. At the meeting I had with him, the thing that struck me most was that he was concerned only with the players. It was his job to put (the poor state of cricket) right, and put it right he did. He was absolutely brilliant.

Cricket has changed for the better ... it's because of what happened then, cricket is so strong now.

And who knows, maybe one day they'll be playing the great game up there.

I've been picking around with the game now for some time, but I've never seen anything like this -

Thank you for having me. It's been absolutely marvelous. I've loved every moment of it.

....and that's gone straight into the confectionary stand and out again!!

It's my view, and people may disagree with it, that this series shades that tour. And that's saying something.

I keep reading it is too long a summer but we keep having sell-outs at the matches. I think it would be crazy to pay too much attention to suggestions we need to shorten the summer.

He's usually a good puller - but he couldn't get it up that time.

He prepared for before the first race, so that when the race was about to start he knew everything about what was going to happen.

All these things are nice but you've got to bear in mind that out there - and I do get correspondence to confirm this - there are others who don't have me at the top, who say why don't you talk more, why don't you do this or that. Everyone has their own idea about commentating.

The last two years have been the best I've watched and commented on in 57 years, ... The most exciting, skilful, and with wonderful fielding.

The last two years have been the best cricket I've watched in 57 years,

Gatting at fine leg - that's a contradiction in terms.

The key thing was to learn the value of economy with words and to never insult the viewer by telling them what they can already see.

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.

Out in the field, you haven't got anyone whispering into your ear saying all sorts of things, you've got to do it yourself.

He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling.

Cricket. Come summer holidays here in Australia not a whole lot else seems to matter. It's good stuff... Some would even go as far as to say, marvellous.

When a cricketer gets hit in the private parts, he hopes the pain will go away very soon but the swelling doesn't!

Cricket has so many meanings to so many Australians. It’s become precisely that - an Australian way of life. And what a life it is. Some would even go as far as to say, ‘marvellous’.