Richie Benaud was a remarkable cricketer but he was also a wonderful cricket commentator. As a player, (a fine all-rounder with 3 Test centuries and 248 Test wickets, while captaining Australia in 28 of his 63 Tests) he knew a thing or two about cricket, about bowling and about batting. As a result, when it came to commentating, he could see things in perspective and could put things in perspective, though we might question that by his comment that, “The slow-motion replay doesn’t show how fast the ball was really travelling.” One of his great lines in the commentary box came when Australia were batting and their number 11 batsman (and supreme strike bowler), Glenn McGrath, lost his wicket and Benaud announced quietly that “Glenn McGrath, out for two, just ninety-eight runs short of his century”! That is certainly one way to look at a poor batting score!
Of course, the disappointment of the low score is softened by including the small word “just” in the sentence – just ninety-eight runs, that is all, no big amount! And then he says it was just ninety-eight runs short of a century, not forty-eight runs short of a half-century (which McGrath famously did once score). It would be the only way that the name Glenn McGrath could ever be in the same sentence as the word “century”!
Number 11 batters (the last man in) are seen as the least good batters – there are a lot worse names given to them but we shall leave it at that for now! They are not expected to score loads of runs; anything that they do score might be considered as a massive bonus. When they do score a significant amount, their team-mates cheer wildly in disbelief and then will tease them for months afterwards. Imagine the delight of his team-mates when McGrath actually hit a six in a Test match against New Zealand (he managed just the one in his 138 innings)
McGrath famously scored a record tenth-wicket century partnership with his fast bowling partner Jason Gillespie, who, on another famous occasion, was sent in as a ‘nightwatchman’ (at the fall of a wicket near the end of a long day to prevent an experienced and valued batter potentially losing his wicket) to prevent the opponents from taking another wicket; he not only survived until the end of the day but he went on the next day to score 201 not out, to the sheer delight, utter amazement and total bewilderment of all around, leading one writer to declare that “Gillespie is to nightwatchmen what Bradman is to batsmen”. Other specialist bowlers have also achieved the amazing achievement of hitting a big score coming in as a nightwatchman, including Alex Tudor (99 not out) and Jack Leach (92 and out), both of England, while Ashton Agar went one better as a batter when on his debut as a bowler he came in at number 11 and top-scored with 98 runs in 101 balls against England in 2013.
There is a similar feeling (though not quite to the same extent) when a specialised batter is given the opportunity to bowl, maybe to give the real bowlers a rest after a long day (or days) in the field – or else perhaps in sheer desperation. Michael Vaughan of England, a number 3 batter with 18 Test centuries to his name, even bowled the great batter, Sachin Tendulkar, in 2002, as one of Vaughan’s only six Test wickets. Coincidentally, Vaughan himself was bowled by the great Australian batter, Ricky Ponting, in 2005 (one of Ponting’s measly 5 Test wickets).
Batters who are called upon to bowl have no pressure on them, no expectations, other than to distract the batter; indeed, this often happens as the batter now thinks there is an easy bowler so he can relax, with no pressure on him, and in so doing he loses his focus and gets out. No pressure works for the bowler but not for the batter! It is the same with the bowler going out to bat, with no pressure on him, while there is increased pressure on the bowler to get this non-descript batter out! With the most Test ducks for Australia, and an average of just over 7, anything McGrath might score is worthy of celebration – imagine what happened when he scored 61 against New Zealand in 2004!
Maybe one important lesson that we can learn from all of this is that coaches need to know when to put pressure on their players and when to release it; pressure can be good and valuable but it can be destructive. Equally players themselves need to learn how to handle pressure and how to handle those moments when there is no pressure. Ask Richie Benaud, the coolest commentator of all!
