Richie reflects on two unforgettable series

At the request of cricket.com.au's Adam Burnett in June 2013, Richie Benaud reflected on two of the most famous series in which he was involved.

Here, in his own words, the iconic Australian Test captain and peerless broadcaster recalls a triumphant trip to India and the famous first Tied Test.

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I played first-class cricket over a period from 1948 for NSW against Queensland to 1964, Australia against South Africa. There were many memorable matches, including the Third Test, India against Australia in Calcutta in 1956 and Australia against West Indies in 1960.

The 1956 game was part of a three-match series where the opening Test was in Madras at a time I was benefiting greatly from Bill O’Reilly’s advice on how to improve my bowling.

Using that brilliant advice, and practising for hours in the nets, I had it right to the extent that in the first innings at Madras I took 7/72 which remained my best ever bowling performance in Test cricket.

During the Second Test in Bombay I contracted dengue fever but our medical team managed to get me on to the field at Calcutta for the third match where we won on a pitch unlike anything we had seen before. When you read these days about the perfect batting conditions in India, we were light years away from that in 1956.

We were anything but confident about our chances in India, having just been well beaten by England in England, and, when we looked at the surface of the pitch in Calcutta, we knew it was certain to be a ‘raging turner....’

Peter Burge and Neil Harvey were our batting heroes; I made 24 and 21 and took 11 for 105 in the game and, as soon as the match ended, we caught the night flight, Calcutta to Sydney, to be ready to start the Australian season.

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In the four years between that Calcutta Test and the start of the West Indies tour of Australia in 1960-1961, there was little doubt in my mind that Australia and West Indies had the finest cricket teams in the world.

The team West Indies sent to Australia was captained by Frank Worrell, one of the Three W’s, Gerry Alexander having stood down from the captaincy to allow Frank to take over. It was a generous but extremely sensible move and, in part, it produced what I think was the best Test series of all time.

Some say the First Test, the Tied match, is the finest Test ever played, but I believe that to be an exaggeration brought about by the final ball which produced the run-out and the Tie.

No one thought for a moment it would be a tie. West Indies were on top at different times and, in the second innings when we found ourselves 6/92, all seemed lost.

At our pre-match practice the day before the start, I was put through a fierce fitness test before being allowed to play. I had spent the last two days of the Victoria-NSW match in Melbourne in bed with a severe bout of tonsillitis and it was a tough time.

After the fitness test, Sir Donald made a most unusual request. Could he come along to our team meeting at Lennon’s Hotel to have a word with the players? I checked with the players, then said to him: ‘that will be fine, 7 o’clock in room 220.’

When he walked in he declined a chair and a glass of beer and said... "Jack (Ryder), Dudley (Seddon) and I are aware we have been consistently winning matches and series and we are pleased by that. But, we have been very disappointed by a lot of negative play we have seen, mostly from our opponents. The three of us believe this could be one of the greatest Test series ever between two wonderful teams. We want you all to know that we will be looking in very kindly fashion on players who play in attractive fashion to please those paying their money at the turnstiles. Thank you for your time and I’ll leave you to your discussions."

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Colin McDonald summed it up perfectly. "I gather then...... that they will be looking in very unkindly fashion on those of us who haven’t been paying attention to that important aspect." There was quite a bit of nodding and then we moved on to other tactical matters.

The first four days provided superb entertainment. Garry Sobers, 132, and other brilliance from Worrell’s team, Norman O’Neill 181, a glorious innings, and then the fight back when our bowlers restricted West Indies to 284, leaving us 233 to win.

Almost before you could blink we had lost six wickets and at tea-time I was walking off with ‘Davo’ knowing we were in deep trouble, six wickets down and more than a hundred to win in the final session of the match.

As he always did, Sir Donald was having a cup of tea sitting on one of the wooden benches outside the Australian dressing-room. Davo and I kept our pads on and there was no conversation until Don said, "all right Richie, what are you going for ......a win or a draw?"

"We’re going for a win of course." He didn’t move his head, still looked over the top of his cup and said quietly, "I’m very pleased to hear it..."

If I hadn’t run out Davidson when he was 80, calling him for a near-impossible single, we’d have done it too. We lost our last four wickets for six and three of those were run out! Davo was the first player to take 10 wickets and score 100 runs in a Test match. A wonderful cricketer!

A couple in the Australian dressing-room were uncertain what had happened. The West Indian team coming off the field were a mixture; a few thought they had been beaten, others that they had won.

Then, Sir Donald, who had run all the way from the QCA room to our dressing-room rushed in shouting, "That’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened in cricket." I said, "Not for me it isn’t."  He laughed and said, "you’ll change your mind."

Frank Worrell was a great captain; West Indies had a wonderful batting order and a splendid bowling attack. They were an outstanding group of sportsmen.

At the next meeting of the Queensland Cricket Association a minute was moved to forbid players staying in the dressing-rooms after a match. It went on to say that after the Tied Test the players were, worse still, drinking and raising glasses to one another and the game of cricket that had just finished. 

When the West Indies, after the final exciting Test, were taken in a motorcade through the streets of Melbourne to board their aeroplane, an estimated half a million people waved and cheered from the sidewalk pavements and the hundreds of business house windows. A fitting tribute to all that had gone on.