Cricket legend Richie Benaud, dead at 84

Legendary cricketer-turned-commentator Richie Benaud has died in a Sydney hospice this morning. He had been receiving radiation treatment for skin cancer since November, 2014. Benaud’s family announced he died peacefully in his sleep.

Benaud was one of the Australian cricket team’s best players in the 1950s. He played 64 Test matches between 1952 and 1964.

He first took up commentating with the BBC while still captaining Australia in 1960, and then worked for the Nine Network for the better part of half a century.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has suggested giving Benaud a state funeral, a notion that seems nice enough, but which some taxpayers – cricket fans or otherwise – are already objecting to.  Antonino Tati