Factbox - Richie Benaud factbox

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Factbox on former Australia cricket captain and broadcaster Richie Benaud, who died on Thursday night aged 84. - - - - EARLY LIFE * Born Oct. 6, 1930 at Penrith. * Taught by his father Lou to bowl leg spin, his family moved back into Sydney where he gained attention as a leg-spinning all-rounder at secondary school in Parrammatta. * Idolised Don Bradman as a child, having, as a 10-year-old, seen him play at the Sydney Cricket Ground. * Began playing Sydney grade (club) cricket at the age of 16 for the Cumberland club. CRICKET CAREER * Benaud made his state debut for New South Wales against Queensland aged 18, principally as a batsman. * Success was slow to achieve in an Australian-international laden NSW side and he was relegated to the second XI, where he suffered a fractured skull after he mistimed a hook shot and was struck above the right eye, keeping him out of the game for the rest of the 1948/49 season. * He first played for Australia against West Indies, at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January, 1952, scoring 3 and 19 and capturing his first wicket by bowling left arm spin bowler Alf Valentine for a duck to seal a 202-run victory for Lindsay Hassett's side. * Spent the first part of his career in and out of the test side, before he came of age on the tour of South Africa in 1957-58, scoring two of his three test centuries and taking 30 wickets. * Appointed captain for the 1958/59 Ashes series against England, Benaud changed the way the team played with an aggressive attacking style that reinvigorated the game for the public and set the template for modern captaincy. * He led the team in 28 of his 63 tests, winning three successive Ashes series. * Became the first man to take more than 200 wickets and score 2,000 runs in tests before he retired against South Africa at his beloved SCG in 1964 having scored 2,201 runs, with a high score of 122, and taken 248 wickets. OUTSIDE CRICKET * Mindful of a career post cricket, Benaud persuaded the Sydney Sun newspaper editor to give him a job as a reporter, before he went into the BBC following an Ashes tour of England in 1956 to get some experience in broadcasting. * Began working for the BBC in 1960, starting a commentary career that lasted more than 40 years. He had an unbroken stint as a commentator on British television from 1963-2005. * Like his captaincy, he set the template for modern day television commentators with his low key, measured analysis. * Was instrumental in helping Kerry Packer establish World Series Cricket in 1977, lending the breakaway organisation some much needed credibility. * Became an Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE) in 1961 for his services to cricket and was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, he Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007 and the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009. * Was injured in a car crash in October 2013, restricting his public appearances before he announced in November 2014 that he was suffering from skin cancer. * Died in his sleep on April 9, 2015, aged 84. (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Patrick Johnston)