Legendary cricket commentator and former Australian Captain Richie Benaud passed away at the age of 84. Benaud had been receiving  radiation treatment for skin cancer for last one year. His family announced that he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Benaud was considered as one of the greatest all-rounders in the game of Cricket. He was a crafty leg-spinner who took a total of 248 wickets from just 63 Tests. He was also a threatening lower-order batsman who hit one of the fastest Test centuries. He was a brilliant gully fielder with amazing reflexes and a crowd puller wherever he played. He was also a bold and victorious leader of men, who lost neither a Test series nor his coolness in the field.

Benaud was the first cricketer to achieve the Test double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets and, as an all-rounder, ranks as one of the greatest.

Tidbits

1. Richie Benaud was retired from International Cricket in 1964.
2. Benaud was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
3. In 1999 he was awarded a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Sports Broadcaster.
4. In 2007, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
5. In 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.