How important is Richie Benaud to summer?
So much so that Channel Nine boss David Gyngell has asked the ailing but resilient voice of cricket to call Australia's series against India from his Coogee home.
From Richie's lounge room to yours, so to speak.
"That's what I've put to him," Gyngell said. "If he's not up to calling from the ground this summer, I'd like him to call from home. He'd be the ultimate armchair caller from the couch, wouldn't he? I'd prefer to have him calling at the ground, but I would say that will be difficult. If I have my way, he will be calling it from his home but it is completely his decision."
The 83-year-old's health has been the source of much speculation in recent times after he crashed his 1963 Sunbeam Alpine on his way home from golf in October last year.
Benaud was not at the SCG on Tuesday when he was the first of 15 broadcasters and reporters revealed as the inaugural inductees into the ground's Media Hall of Honour.
Alongside Nine stablemate Ray Warren, the legendary Norman May and respected author Ian Heads, Benaud is one of only four living inductees.
His wife, Daphne, accepted the honour on his behalf.
"Arthur Morris, a wonderful friend and cricketer, was my first captain on New Year's Day 1949 at the SCG and I'm only sorry medical treatment means I am unable to be at my favourite cricket ground with you today," Benaud said in a statement.
A serious back injury suffered in the car accident meant Benaud didn't call a ball of the Ashes series, and there is mystery around the state of his health as a four-Test series against India looms.
He has been holed up in his apartment in Coogee for weeks, but those close to him report his mind remains as "sharp as a whip", that he devours three newspapers every morning, and remains a keen student of horse-racing form.
Gyngell once said: "In the Nine family, Richie sits at the head of the table". But his influence extends well beyond what he means to Nine.
If you want to start a bar-room argument, put this question on a good length: who is the biggest household name – Benaud or Bradman?
It will fill an afternoon, or possibly end in someone storming out.
"Richie would be horrified at the comparison," Gyngell says.
It would be impossible, though, to think of any Australian – cricketer or otherwise – who is as well known and universally admired, and that includes Bradman.
There was similar reverence for each inductee at an intimate luncheon in the SCG Trust suite in the new Noble-Bradman-Messenger Stand.
It comes at a time when the distance between player and reporter has never been so wide. The distrust runs deep.
Nevertheless, the importance of the media to sport is underlined by the names and images that now adorn the hallway on level three of the new stand.
What would rugby league have sounded like without Frank Hyde's immortal description of a goal, "It's high enough, it's long enough, it's straight between the posts!" from the card table on the sideline?
What would the modern game sound like without "Rabs"?
What would they have played for if Sun-Herald photographer John O'Gready hadn't captured the image of a mud-caked Norm Provan and Arthur Summons embracing each other at the end of the 1963 grand final?
What would the Australian men's medley relay swim at the 1980 Moscow Olympics have sounded like without May's "Gold! Gold! Gold!" call?
What would the 1938 Ashes series have sounded like if Alan McGilvray hadn't interpreted ball-by-ball cables from Britain, before calling the play for the ABC complete with artificial sound effects?
And what would cricket have sounded like without Richie making no sound at all? Every pregnant pause says a thousand words.
New additions to the Nine cricket commentary box will sometimes pose a question to Benaud on air. The response is no response, before the rookie caller realises he must work it out for himself. Swim little fish, swim.
Former Test opener Michael Slater remembers making his calling debut in England alongside Benaud for Channel 4.
He was nervous, and in the heat of the call described a situation as a "tragedy".
"Michael," Richie said in a commercial break. "You used the word 'tragedy'. The Titanic is a tragedy. Being bowled is not a tragedy."
On another occasion, Slater said the "ball snuck under the bat".
He asked Richie off-air if English viewers would understand the term "snuck".
Benaud looked at him, then said nothing for several overs, before finally pulling Slater aside and pointing out the importance of accuracy and knowing your audience.
"Michael, I know of plenty of 'uck' words," Benaud said. "But a 'snnnn' isn't one of them."
It was his absence last summer that made us realise how critical Richie is to our summer. The love for him is universal. Few could ever consider pranking him, with the exception of his fellow commentator Bill Lawry.
"Got 'im! Yes!" Lawry will scream down the line when he calls about 10 minutes after Benaud has gone to bed.
Luckily we still do, whether he's calling from the commentary box or the couch.
THE INDUCTEES
Richie Benaud, EH "Tiger" Black, Ernie Christensen, JC Davis, Jack Fingleton, Ian Heads, Frank Hyde, Alan McGilvray, Norman May, Johnnie Moyes, John O'Gready, Bill O'Reilly, Ray Robinson, Jim Shepherd, Ray Warren.
