Our worst loss since Don, says Aussie PM

RICHIE BENAUD’S family have been offered a state funeral after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called his death the ‘greatest loss for cricket since the loss of Don Bradman’. Following a battle with skin cancer, the death of the 84-year-old former Australia captain and legendary broadcaster was announced on Thursday. Abbott said: ‘There would be very few Australians who have not passed a summer in the company of Richie Benaud. ‘He was the accompaniment of an Australian summer, his voice was even more present than the chirping of the cicadas in our suburbs and towns, and that voice, tragically, is now still. But we remember him with tremendous affection.’ State funerals in Australia are generally reserved for politicians. Even Bradman himself turned down the offer of one before his death in 2001. But such is the esteem in which Benaud was held, both as an engaging allround cricketer — he took 248 Test wickets with his leg-breaks and scored 2,201 runs — and as a commentator, that Abbott has been moved to make an exception. The tributes continued yesterday to a man routinely referred to as ‘the voice of cricket’. His fellow legspinner Shane Warne (right) said: ‘For me it was an honour and a privilege to call you a close friend and mentor.’ Sachin Tendulkar described his death as a ‘great loss to the world of cricket’. Australia’s Test captain Michael Clarke praised Benaud for helping ‘the Australian team have the attitude where they wanted to win. He played the game the right way’. One of Clarke’s predecessors, Steve Waugh, said: ‘His legacy to the game will always live on.’ The veteran Australian radio commentator Jim Maxwell said: ‘He has been the most influential, revered and respected person in the game for 50 years. ‘As Australia captain he never lost a series. As a commentator he was precise, authoritative and deliciously understated.’