macca
Active Member
Benaud's childhood home under threat
There have been lots of stuff on TV tonight about how developers are trying to knock down the old Benaud residence in Sydney. The state government has broken a promise made to the Benaud family to not allow the house to be demolished if they sold it to the govt.
Now at the last minute Parramatta council are stepping in to try and save the old place and the National Trust are getting involved and there are funds set up to donate to help etc, so hopefully it can get a last minute reprieve.
Benaud learnt to bowl his legspin against the brick wall on this house. The day he started was January 14th 1940. We know this because Benaud often tells the story of how it all began the day after he saw the 49 year old legspinning genius Clarrie Grimmett bowl at the SCG on Saturday 13th 1940. The ten year old Benaud was inspired the very next day to try and do what Grimmett was doing and began spinning the ball against the wall that Sunday after a little instruction from his dad, who was a good legspinner and student of Grimmetts books, Benaud was getting legspin straight away.
An amazing coincidence is that January 13 was the day Grimmett tried his backspinning flipper in a first class game for the first time. He dismissed Barnes and Chipperfield with successive flippers. The only two he bowled that day. Benaud saw this from his seat in the Sheridan Stand, he had no idea what a flipper was then of course, but Benaud later became the first to bowl a flipper in a test match. Grimmett never got to bowl his flipper in a test match, his age and the war got in the way.
So i really hope they save his old joint and spruce it up a bit. Put a plaque there or something.
There have been lots of stuff on TV tonight about how developers are trying to knock down the old Benaud residence in Sydney. The state government has broken a promise made to the Benaud family to not allow the house to be demolished if they sold it to the govt.
Now at the last minute Parramatta council are stepping in to try and save the old place and the National Trust are getting involved and there are funds set up to donate to help etc, so hopefully it can get a last minute reprieve.
Benaud learnt to bowl his legspin against the brick wall on this house. The day he started was January 14th 1940. We know this because Benaud often tells the story of how it all began the day after he saw the 49 year old legspinning genius Clarrie Grimmett bowl at the SCG on Saturday 13th 1940. The ten year old Benaud was inspired the very next day to try and do what Grimmett was doing and began spinning the ball against the wall that Sunday after a little instruction from his dad, who was a good legspinner and student of Grimmetts books, Benaud was getting legspin straight away.
An amazing coincidence is that January 13 was the day Grimmett tried his backspinning flipper in a first class game for the first time. He dismissed Barnes and Chipperfield with successive flippers. The only two he bowled that day. Benaud saw this from his seat in the Sheridan Stand, he had no idea what a flipper was then of course, but Benaud later became the first to bowl a flipper in a test match. Grimmett never got to bowl his flipper in a test match, his age and the war got in the way.
So i really hope they save his old joint and spruce it up a bit. Put a plaque there or something.
