Richie Benaud to be honoured as 'Legend' of Australian Sport

Richie Benaud

Late former Australian cricketer Richie Benaud will be posthumously honoured as 'Legend' by Sport Australia Hall of Fame. The announcement was made on his 88th birthday (October 6).

Benaud, a former Aussie skipper, became one of the most loved voices of cricket after he retired from International cricket. He will be the 40th Legend of Australian Sport and the third cricketer to be bestowed the prestigious annual honour. The decision will be made official at the 34th Sport Australia Hall of Fame induction and awards gala dinner in Melbourne on October 11.

An inaugural member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985, Benaud was in line to receive the honour in 2008, but had requested that it be postponed until he retired from his work within the media. He passed away in 2015 after a battle with cancer. Don Bradman (1993) and Keith Miller (2004) are the other cricketers who had been inducted as 'Legends'.

Daphne Benaud, his widow, said her husband would be proud to be in such exalted company. 'Knowing he is up alongside those two would have made him extremely thrilled and honoured because he had such respect for both of them,' she said.

Benaud, who never lost a series as captain and was the first to the Test double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets, was described in the announcement as 'a daring captain, a charming personality and a marvellous commentator ' [who] traversed generations to become one of the most influential figures in cricket history.'

Paying tribute to the leg-spinning all-rounder, who had 11,719 first-class runs, including 23 centuries, and 945 wickets, John Bertrand, the Hall of Fame chairman, said Benaud 'transcended the sport of cricket'.