A new three-year deal was done last Monday over lunch at the lavish Otto restaurant overlooking Woolloomooloo Bay, when Channel Nine chief David Gyngell asked Benaud if he would like to bat on.
In typical Benaud fashion, he said he had never planned to retire despite the farewell tour planned for this summer. So, at 81, the captain of Channel Nine's cricket team is back before he ever went away. "I knew what I said. I knew I wouldn't be doing any live commentary after a certain time, then I'd always added that I wanted to continue doing cricket for Channel Nine,'' Benaud said.
Channel Nine's head of sport Steve Crawley paid Benaud the ultimate accolade. "At Nine, when we think about Richie Benaud, we don't simply think about a cricket commentator. He's never been just a cricket commentator. He's an icon of Australian television,'' Crawley said.
Heard about this on my way home from work this morning. It made my day
