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Benaud retires
from England commentary
LONDON: Richie Benaud will commentate his last Test in England at
The Oval next week. Benaud, who has been cricket broadcasting’s most
comfortable armchair for the past 42 years, will hang up the
microphone when Channel 4’s contract with the ECB expires after the
fifth Test. He has ruled out a switch to Sky, who control the rights
from next season.
"It is time to say goodbye because I won’t be doing any more
television in the United Kingdom," Benaud said in an exclusive
interview. "I’ll still be doing free-to-air in Australia. I’ve got a
three-year contract with Channel 9 which will probably be extended."
Benaud, 74, said he knew the time was right to retire, just as he
did when he ended his Test career in 1964, but he regretted the loss
of C4’s coverage. "From the production and direction point of view,
they’ve been quite magnificent in the six years that they’ve been
doing it," he said.
Richie Benaud played for Australia in 63 Tests from 1952 to 1964 as
a leg-spinning all-rounder. He hit 2,201 runs at 24.45 with three
hundreds and captured 248 wickets at 27.03 runs apiece. He was also
one of his country’s finest Test captains.
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