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Benaud, the Voice of cricket, is hoping for a 'splendid contest' at the Brabourne stadium
Benaud, the Voice of cricket, is hoping for a 'splendid contest' at the Brabourne stadium
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When someone asked cricket's most enduring voice Richie Benaud whether he ever got bored with cricket, he looked at the guy and said, "I've never had a boring day's cricket in my life."
That probably explains why Benaud is still doing commentary at 79. He is still madly in love with the game. The resumption of Test cricket at the Brabourne Stadium with today's third India vs Sri Lanka Test is not lost on the great Australian, who made two Test tours to India in 1956-57 and 1959-60, the second one as captain.
"I hope the India vs Sri Lanka game is a splendid contest. I will be following it closely in the print media and on pay TV," Benaud told MiD DAY from Sydney yesterday.
"There are some high-class players taking part, my best wishes to them and to those who go to watch them play," he said in a message.
Recalling his visits to India, Benaud said, "I only toured India twice on official Australian tours, the short one in 1956 after touring England and the first official Australian tour to India in 1959-60 when I was captain.
"1956 was not a good memory because I contracted dengue fever and it had a very nasty effect. I never had a great deal of success at Brabourne though I loved playing there, wonderful crowds, so enthusiastic and lovers of cricket."
Despite dengue fever, Benaud bagged four wickets at Brabourne, three of which were top-notch batsmenu00a0Vijay Manjrekar, Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy.
"I had more success at Calcutta where the ball turned a little more!" The city of joy will not forget him too. His 11 for 105 (6-52 and 5-53) was then the best analysis in a Kolkata Test. Save Roy, every specialist batsmen fell to his leg-spin.
When it came to the 1959-60 Brabourne Test, Benaud experienced frustration. He bowled 41 overs in the first innings for only Salim Durani's wicket before going wicketless in the second innings. "When we first saw the Bombay pitch we had reckoned there was no chance of a result. It looked an absolute belter and proved to be so. It was one of the easiest batting pitches I had seen since I had played on the same ground three years earlier and the game drifted to a draw," he wrote in Anything But An Autobiography.
Benaud's more memorable moments in Mumbai came later. "I did however play at Brabourne with 'Cavaliers' teams managed by a very good journalist friend, Ron Roberts, in the early 1960s," he said.
A 73 against spin stalwarts Baloo Gupte, Sharad Diwadkar and Padmakar Shivalkar was followed by a five-wicket haul in his clash against CCI President's XI in 1962. He returned in 1963 to score a hundred which helped Cavaliers beat CCI by six wickets. "They (tours) were very enjoyable and we had the chance to meet many enthusiastic cricket followers," he said.
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