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Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE; born 6 October 1930, in Penrith, New South Wales is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game.

Benaud was a world-class Test cricket all-rounder, blending thoughtful leg spin bowling with lower-order batting aggression. Along with fellow bowling all-rounder Alan Davidson, he helped restore Australia to the top of world cricket in the late 1950s and early 1960s after a slump in the early 1950s. In 1958 he became Australia's Test captain until his retirement in 1964.

Gideon Haigh described him as "... perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War." In his review of Benaud's autobiography Anything But, Sri Lankan cricket writer Harold de Andrado wrote: "Richie Benaud possibly next to Sir Don Bradman has been one of the greatest cricketing personalities as player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organiser, adviser and student of the game."

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1961 for services to cricket.

In 2007, he was inducted in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal award evening and in 2009 he was inducteed into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Benaud was not a large spinner of the ball, but he was known for his ability to extract substantial bounce from the surface. In addition to his accurate probing consistency, he possessed a well-disguised googly and topspinner which tricked many batsmen and yielded him many wickets. In his later career, he added the flipper, a combination of the googly and top spinner which was passed to him by Bruce Dooland. Coupled with his subtle variations in flight and angle of the delivery, he kept the batsman under constant pressure. Benaud was regarded as one of the finest close-fielders of his era, either at gully or in a silly position. As a batsman, he was tall and lithe, known for his hitting power, in particular his lofted driving ability from the front foot.

Johnnie Moyes said "Certainly Benaud received a little help from the roughened patches, but he could do what the off-spinners could not do: he could turn the ball, mostly slowly, sometimes with more life. His control was admirable, and when Benaud gets a batsman in trouble he rarely if ever gives him a loose one. He keeps him pinned down, probing and probing until the victim is well and truly enmeshed."

After the 1956 England tour, Benaud stayed behind in London to take a BBC presenter training course. He took up a journalism position with the News of the World,[29] beginning as a police roundsman before becoming a sports columnist. In 1960 he made his first radio commentary in the United Kingdom at the BBC, after which he moved into television.

After retiring from playing in 1964, Benaud turned to full-time cricket journalism and commentary, dividing his time between Britain (where he worked for the BBC for many years, prior to joining Channel 4) and Australia (for the Nine Network). Overall he played in or commentated on approximately 500 Test matches, as he himself noted in one of his final interviews in Britain when asked if he would miss Test cricket.

The idea for what became his trademark, wearing a cream jacket during live commentary, came from Channel 9 owner Kerry Packer, who suggested the look to help Benaud stand out from the rest of the commentary team.

In 2004, Benaud starred in a series of television advertisements for the Australian Tourism Commission, aimed at promoting Australia as a tourist destination. Benaud's ad featured him in various scenic locations uttering his signature comment, "Marvellous!" He also appeared in Richie Benaud's Greatest XI a video in which he chooses his own XI. A limited version was shown on the Nine Network after a match between Australia and Pakistan.

Benaud has become a staunch advocate of cricket being available on free-to-view TV. He chose to end his British commentary career, which spanned more than 42 years, when the rights to broadcast live Test match cricket were lost by Channel 4 to the subscription broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting. Thus, the 2005 Ashes series was the last that Benaud commentated on in Britain. His final commentary came near the end of the final day of the Fifth Test at The Oval. His last goodbye was interrupted by Glenn McGrath taking Kevin Pietersen's wicket; Benaud simply wove his description of the dismissal into what he was already saying.

When Richie Benaud heard about the formation of the Sports for Australians Party, he was very eager to help in any way he could. After some discussion, it was decided that Richie would become a candidate for the SAP. We could not be prouder to have a candidate as respected as Richie Benaud. His long held concerns about cricket being lost to pay tv are widely known.