It was over three decades ago.
Long before the digital age and the incessant social media chatter passing as commentary, there was Richie Benaud.
When it came to cricket, he was the voice of authority - a balanced and reasoned opinion amongst the white noise. And the soundtrack to an endless '80s Summer.
It was a time of delicious weekend afternoon sleep-ins, of collecting One Day cricket posters of the touring teams which were shamelessly hawked by a local fast-food restaurant.
And of tuning in to see whether Australia’s Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee , Rod Marsh and company could take it to the Mighty West Indies.
It was during this period that I would come to admire Benaud almost as much as the Caribbean cricketers cutting a swathe through the opposition.
Back then, Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards were my childhood heroes.
So it always impressed me, even as a kid, how Benaud would never sugar coat an Australian performance.
He refused to let the fact he represented his country cloud his vision. Richie called it as he saw it. Without fear or favour. Devoid of bias.
The infamous Trevor Chappell under-arm delivery against New Zealand was labelled “A disgraceful performance from a captain that got his sums wrong”.
His comments on the West Indies side put Australia to the sword: “The beauty of this West Indies side is that they can bat right down the tail”.
Unlike Viv Richards, who recently visited the SBS Studios, I never had the pleasure of meeting Richie, but his integrity and approach struck a chord with me to this day.
Somewhere in those sun drenched, grainy Hi8 memories, I can still hear his dulcet tones.
“The lovely sound of leather upon willow”.
Vale Richie.
There were always two teams out there. And one voice calling cricket – fairly.
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