Richie to draw stumps

Some, such as Murray Deaker will say "not before time", both others amongst the community of cricket tragics will be more reflective on the announcement that Richie Benaud is to lay down his microphone and beige jacket at the end of the next Australian summer.

And whilst there are many "tributes" to choose from this morning, we reckon this one from Mike Norrish of The Telegraph is a pretty good snapshot of the veteran commentator, and at least goes some way towards showing the huge void that exists between Benaud, and some of the more recent retirees from the Australian cricket team - Slats, Tubbs, Heals, Gilly et al. And Norrish puts to bed the myth that Mark Nicholas is in Benaud's class as a commentator - just watch the video of Benaud describing Shane Warne's "ball of the century" to Mike Gatting.

And all icons have their particular quirks - as Norrish notes:

And among the many tributes already posted on Australian websites, this one, from David in Melbourne, stood out:
"Any score of 2 for 22 will never be the same again." Benaud-philes will understand why.

Indeed - vale Richie

UPDATE: For all the criticism we pour on the Channel 9 commentary team, Benaud has always been an man of integrity - never better displayed than his closing words from a telecast in Melbourne one Sunday afternoon many years ago...