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About John Benaud
- John Benaud (born 11 May 1944, Auburn, New South Wales) is a former Australian cricketer.Benaud is the son of Louis and Irene Benaud (both deceased).
- His only sibling was fellow cricketer Richie Benaud (deceased), who was older by 13 years.
- John is married to Lindsay Benaud with two children.
- His son Jamie Benaud was born in 1971; he is a firefighter and Hazardous Materials Technician/Specialist with the NSW Fire Brigades.
- John's daughter Nicole was born in 1973 while Benaud was playing on tour in the West Indies.
- Nicole is a TAFE teacher.
- Benaud has lived in the Blue Mountains since 1971. John began his working career at Fairfax's Sydney Sun newspaper as a copy-boy.
- He was subsequently awarded a journalism cadetship and his career progressed at the paper where he remained for his entire working life.
- By the time the Sun was closed in 1988 following the disastrous takeover by Warwick Fairfax, Benaud had risen to be the editor-in-chief of the paper.
- Throughout the 1990s Benaud wrote cricket columns for Australian, British and Indian sports magazines and ghost-wrote several autobiographies.
- In 1997 he released the book Matters of Choice, the story of his time as an Australian cricket selector. Benaud played first-class cricket for New South Wales for six years, from 1966/67 to 1972/73, becoming captain of the State side.
- While Captain of the NSW team, Benaud was famously suspended for a month after refusing to obey the ban on Adidas Grass-sports shoes.
- The public and media outcry forced Cricket NSW to overturn their decision, and in the off-season the ban was lifted.
- He represented Australia in the summer of 1971/1972 playing against Gary Sobers' Rest of the World XI.
- He was selected for three Tests in 1972 to 1973.
- He made his Test debut in the 1st Test against Pakistan at Adelaide over Christmas 1972, making little contribution as Australia won easily.
- He also played in the 2nd Test at the MCG over the New Year, which Australia won again.
- He made the top score of 142 in the second innings, in the knowledge that he had been dropped for the 3rd Test.
- He returned for his third and final Test appearance in the 5th Test against West Indies at Port of Spain, Trinidad, in April 1973.
- He contributed little with the bat, but bowled four overs to take 2-12 in a drawn match.
- He was later a selector for the Australian cricket team.The 20-year gap between Richie's and John's Test debuts is the longest for two brothers. He wrote the book Matters of Choice: A Test Selector's Story, which was published in 1997.
- Mark Lawson said it provided "intriguing insights into the mixture of statistical chicanery, personal friendships, regional politics, hunches and finger-crossing that decides the identities of Test elevens in most parts of the world".
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