Melbourne. Former Australia captain Richie Benaud, the celebrated ‘voice of cricket’, has died at the age of 84 after battling skin cancer, prompting a flood of tributes from around the world.

A giant figure in the game both on and off the field, Benaud died in his sleep in a Sydney hospice late on Thursday, his employer Channel Nine reported, citing family.

“Our country has lost a national treasure,” Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards said in a statement.

“After Don Bradman, there has been no Australian player more famous or more influential than Richie Benaud.”

Benaud said last November he was fighting a skin cancer on his head and his public appearances became rare in recent years.

“Eighty-four-year-olds don’t seem to mend as well as they used to,” he said at the time in his typically wry style.

After 35 years calling Australian cricket for Channel Nine, Benaud was unable to take his spot behind the microphone in the summer of 2013/14 after crashing his vintage car near his home in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Coogee.

Flags flew at half-mast at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Benaud’s home as a first-class cricketer for New South Wales, and flowers were laid at his statue at the venue.

His family were offered a state funeral by the country’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Widely seen as the most influential figure in post-war cricket, and revered as a voice of conscience in a sport often riven by politics and self-interest, Benaud’s loss was a “sad day for Australia,” Abbott said.

“There would hardly be an Australian over the last 40 years who hasn’t listened to Richie Benaud,” Abbott told state radio broadcaster ABC.

Though England suffered three successive series losses in the Ashes against Benaud-led Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, British fans will also mourn his passing.

Britain was Benaud’s second home for much of his 40-year career in television, his distinctive voice a feature for the BBC, where he was a trainee journalist when still an active player in the 1950s.

Along with his dry wit, economy of words and insightful analysis, Benaud’s silvery hair and unmistakeable cream jackets would propel him into a cult figure, inspiring parodies from comedians and downloadable apps that parroted his words.

“Put your brain into gear and if you can add to what’s on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up,” he said of his no-nonsense approach to commentary.

A former police reporter, his media career would ultimately overshadow his playing tenure, though he had 63 tests for his country and was considered pivotal in reviving waning interest in the game with his aggressive captaincy.

A leg-spinning all-rounder, Benaud made his first-class debut for New South Wales at the age of 18 before making his national debut at 21.

The first player to score 2,000 test runs and take 200 wickets, Benaud was never defeated in a series in 28 matches as captain, setting a benchmark for attacking cricket that his successors have strived to emulate.

Unflinching on the field, off it Benaud called the game without fear or favour.

His withering assessment of the notorious under-arm bowling incident in 1981 — when Australia captain Greg Chappell had his brother Trevor bowled an unplayable delivery to New Zealand’s Brian McKechnie with the final ball of a one-day match — remains a prominent moment in cricket broadcasting.

“Let me tell you what I think about it, I think it was a disgraceful decision,” Benaud said in his customary wrap-up of the day’s play.

Recruited by Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer in the 1970s, Benaud would become a driving force behind World Series Cricket, his voice lending respectability to the breakaway professional circuit that would ultimately change the game.

“It is only a shame he did not get the send-off he deserved — the game of cricket has not had a chance to say goodbye,” BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew told the broadcaster.

“There will never be another Richie Benaud. He was a one-off.”

Reuters

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Melbourne. Rumours of the demise of West Indies cricket seemed greatly exaggerated after the crushing defeat of Pakistan on Saturday and it was a member of the new generation in Andre Russell that breathed new life into the islanders’ World Cup.

The mohawked all-rounder earned man-of-the-match for blasting 42 from just 13 balls against Pakistan’s hapless death bowlers then following up with three wickets in the 150-run thrashing in Christchurch.

Long-suffering fans of West Indies cricket have grown wary of false dawns, but Russell’s performance will have given them some hope the team can move on from a crippling dispute over players’ contracts.

It was also further evidence of the talent that abounds in the clutch of island nations and that critics lament is often left to wither on the vine.

Twenty-six year-old Russell has played 45 one-day internationals, earning man-of-the-match honors five times, but boasts a solitary test on his resume way back in 2010 when a callow 22-year-old.

The door has been slammed ever since, as it has been for a number of West Indies’ more exciting talents in the shorter formats, including all-rounder Kieron Pollard, who was omitted from the World Cup squad after the contracts crisis.

Dwayne Bravo, another controversial omission from the World Cup, also played his last test in 2010 and announced last month he had given up on playing in the longer format altogether.

Along with spin bowler Sunil Narine, who pulled out of the World Cup squad citing a lack of confidence in his bowling action, their omissions from the World Cup have made Russell a de facto senior player in a raw outfit captained by a rookie in 23-year-old paceman Jason Holder.

West Indies fans will hope fast bowling all-rounder Russell can continue to lead from the front, though mindful the player knows only one way.

A celebrated slogger in Twenty20 competitions across the globe, Russell smashed four sixes in his 42 against Pakistan and might have felt unlucky he was denied a crack at the fastest ODI half-century by the completion of the allotted overs.

“I can bat if there’s 20 overs still left to go, but I think I really enjoy when there’s five overs or 10 overs left,” Russell said after the Pakistan win.

“I can come out and just play my natural game. It’s not like I have to be cagey.”

The knock was part of another rearguard action by a middle and lower order which had to scrap hard to get West Indies past 300 in the upset loss against Ireland.

Detractors say Caribbean cricket’s problems start from the top down, and the observation has certainly rung true at the World Cup where senior players like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith and top order batsman Marlon Samuels have been passengers.

After Tuesday’s match against Zimbabwe in Canberra, West Indies play a wounded South Africa on Friday inSydney.

They will need all hands on deck against the Proteas who will doubtlessly be hell-bent on making amends for their shock humiliation by India in Melbourne on Sunday.

“Playing as a team you’re always going to get the job done if everyone contributes,” said Russell.

Reuters

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Melbourne. Michael Clarke thought he had played his last game of cricket when he strained his hamstring again during the Adelaide test against India but will have no misgivings about retiring when his time comes, the Australia captain has said.

On the comeback from hamstring surgery, Clarke will miss the World Cup opener against England in Melbourne on Saturday but is confident he will pad up for the second match against Bangladesh on Feb. 21.

“Scans confirmed I had torn my hamstring after the last day of the Adelaide test — and I thought I might have just played my last game of cricket,” Clarke wrote on Friday in his News Ltd column.

“I had just suffered my fourth hamstring injury in six months and my back was flaring up.

“I had also just scored a century in memory of my little brother, Phillip Hughes, in a winning test side.

“If that was to be the end, I thought, I would have no regrets.”

Clarke said his attitude to the game changed in 2007 after his father fell ill with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“It made me realize that, in the grand scheme of life, cricket was just a game and I had been incredibly blessed to have had the career and experiences I’ve had,” he said.

“I will cherish every day I play for Australia, but life will go on when those days are over.”

Clarke’s race to be fit for the Feb. 14 to March 29 World Cup has been something of a soap opera, with selectors giving him a deadline to be fit for the Bangladesh match or miss out on playing the tournament on home soil altogether. An ultimatum that many pundits have criticized as draconian.

But Clarke said he was never concerned about getting fit in time for the tournament.

“My first thought after coming out of hospital wasn’t about meeting the World Cup deadline. It was about getting my body right — whether that took six weeks or six months,” he said.

“But as the rehab and training evolved and I could feel the improvement in my hamstrings and back, the tournament came into view.

“I can’t tell you how good it felt to put on that Australian one-day uniform against the United Arab Emirates,” he added of Wednesday’s final World Cup warm-up, where he top-scored with 64 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“The records will show that it was just a practice match — but it was so much more than that to me.”

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