Richie Benaud has been voted the nation’s favourite cricket commentator in a poll of nearly 12,000 fans, conducted by The Wisden Cricketer and Cricinfo.
In the poll, which was by far the largest ever conducted by Wisden, Benaud received more than 10,000 votes, an incredible 3,000 more than next man Michael Holding.
Votes % of votes
Richie Benaud 10128 85%
Michael Holding 7048 59%
Geoffrey Boycott 6973 57%
David Gower 5842 49%
Mark Nicholas 4941 42%
Ian Botham 4854 41
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Not a bad winner at all. ‘Subtract Lewis from that List’ my favourite commentry phrase by him :jhanda: Micheal holding got the second spot because of his commentry plus his unique accent!
Richie Benaud has a good all round knowledge of cricket no doubt but if people have listened to his commentry, then they'll realise how biased he can really be. I have heard him commentate a lot in the past and in many eng v aus matches, and he seems to be in love with anything Australian, Glenn Mcgrath for one.
For him Glenn Mcgrath is immortal. He is bakaul Benuad the fastest bowler in the word. I actually heard him say that on a number of occassions. During the current ashes series, he was again being biased when Geoff Boycott [my fav commentator] was laying into the aussies for underestimating England and for making so many blunders. Benaud would either ignore such comments or give a witty reply and change the subject. Why is it so hard for Benuad to accept that aussies can actually make a mistake?????
Khair leaving aside matches involving the aussies, Benaud commentates well when other teams are playing surprise surprise, :D] he doesn't take sides' then.
Geoff Boycott on the other hand is clearly a kind of commentator required for the game. Even though being English he was enjoying England having the upper hand against Australia but never once, did he let his emotions come on top of him.
He was unbiased throughout the 3 tests and he has always beeen like this. He points out mistakes made by the batsmen and the bowlers + fielders when they make mistakes. He doesn't take sides like Benaud and defends England for example when they make mistakes.
Geoff Boycott should have got a lot more votes then he did. This large margin doesn't do justice to a good commentator and that isn't a biased view by me. :D]
Benauld has a great knowledge of cricket. and is well respected, and rightfully so!
but for me, Sir Geoff Boycott will always be the best. esp after the 1992 ball tampering debacle, when he threw his hat on Pakistans stand and defended us against the false claims that were stirred up by the media.