Video: Tributes to cricket legend Richie Benaud, dead at 84

Benaud had been battling skin cancer and recovering from the after-effects of a car accident in 2013.

He was as revered in England, where he worked on television from 1963 to 2005, as he was in his homeland.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club president Dickie Bird, a close friend of Benuad, told The Yorkshire Post that cricket had lost “the very best.”

He said: “He was a great friend of mine and the king of commentary.

“An an era of wonderful commentators like Henry Longhurst in golf, and Brian Johnston and John Arlott in cricket, he was the very best. Not only was he a great cricketer, and captain of Australia, he was a professional at his job. When he went into commentating and journalism he took to it like a duck to water.

“There’s never been one like him and never will be again.”

Benaud, who played 63 Test Matches for Australia between 1952 and 1964 and also led his country on 28 occasions, and was described by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today as “one of the foremost cricketing figures of the post-war era, a leg-spinning all-rounder and a shrewd and innovative captain.”

The MCC flag at Lords, the home of cricket, was flying at half mast today.

ECB chairman Giles Clarke said: “Cricket has lost perhaps its greatest advocate and someone who was a true giant of the modern game. Richie was a marvellously talented cricketer who in the early part of his career gave much to the Australian team as a player and a leader. But he will always, above all, be remembered as one of cricket’s most influential and authoritative voices; a supremely gifted broadcaster, journalist and author.

“It is humbling to think that Richie was involved in more than 500 Test Matches as a player or a commentator. Few could match the breadth of knowledge and insight he brought to the commentary box; and all leavened by his marvellous dry wit which millions came to know and love both in this country and across the world.”

ECB CEO Tom Harrison added: “Richie was a one-man cricketing institution; a peerless broadcaster and a master of his craft. His distinctive style of commentary was much loved, often imitated, but never surpassed.

“Our sporting summers will never be quite the same without him in this country – and how right and fitting it was that his final words of live commentary on British television coincided with the conclusion of arguably the greatest Test series of them all – the 2005 Ashes. Our sympathies go out to Richie’s wife Daphne and to all his many friends and colleagues across the cricketing world.”

Benaud’s leg-spin claimed 248 wickets and he scored 2,201 runs in 63 Tests - the first cricketer to reach 200 wickets and surpass 2,000 runs at that level - but when he turned broadcaster, he was not one to hark back to his own great successes.

Indeed, Benaud was loved for his brevity, letting the action speak for itself.

He once told fellow broadcasters: “Put your brain into gear and if you can add to what’s on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up.”

He offered warmer words of advice for his TV peers, saying: “Above all don’t take yourself too seriously and have fun.”

Moments after his death, stars and cricket fans vented their emotions on Twitter.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said: “A sad day for Australia. We have lost a cricketing champion and Australian icon. What an innings. RIP Richie Benaud.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I grew up listening to Richie Benaud’s wonderful cricket commentary. Like all fans of the sport, I will miss him very much.”

And Labour leader Ed Miliband added: “Richie Benaud was one of the great voices of my childhood. A superb all-rounder, captain and commentator.”