Retiring Richie Benaud...

Kerry O'Keefe is an amusing bugger. I went to a breakfast at the Casino a while back where he was the guest speaker, and apart from mercilessly flogging whatever book he had out, he was pretty good. Odd head, up close.

He recently wrote a column about Richie Benaud with some revealing insights into the doyen of cricket commentary (and a couple of shots back from Benaud, as well ...).

I'm not sure the Richie was ever the same after brilliant Billy Birmingham's series of 12th Man impersonations...

O'Keefe writes:

"Over the years there have been some memorable Benaud quotes. One particular favourite during a break in innings was: "Frankly, I would have thought that using the light roller on that pitch would have the same effect as a koala doing a pas de deux.''
Or the commentary with Michael Slater, which went something like this:
Slater: "The bowler thought he was through him, but the batsman has got an inside edge on it and it has just snuck past leg stump.'' Benaud: "Michael, there are a few words ending in `uck' in the English language, but I am pretty sure the bowler wasn't thinking of one starting with `sn'.''