Off the record: OTR’s handy guide to Albany and paying tribute to Richie Benaud and

OTR’S GUIDE TO ALBANY The borders are coming down, so here’s Off the Record’s handy guide to Albany ahead of the interstate influx. RICHIE RIGHT ON TARGET On such a marvellous day as this – Tuesday, 22/2/2022 – it would be rude not to pay tribute to the great Richie Benaud. It just so happens that OTR has a personal story to share about the man whose legacy lives on through his cricketing achievements, commentating career and Billy Birmingham. It was the winter of 1993 and the Australian cricket team was in England, humiliating the Poms en route to retaining the Ashes. Back in Australia, OTR’s old man had written to Benaud asking for advice on behalf of his six year-old son, an aspiring legspinner who idolised a rising star named Shane Warne. A couple of months passed and it seemed the letter would go unanswered. No worries – expectations had been low, anyway. But not only did Benaud reply, he even offered his “apologies for not answering sooner”. “This letter is written after the Trent Bridge Test, where Australia forced a draw at the end of what was a great game of cricket,” he wrote. When Benaud sat down to pen that letter, OTR’s idol Warne had already taken plenty of wickets in the series – 22, in fact. But the cricket legend’s words of wisdom brought OTR and his old man back down to earth. “In my opinion, no child should be allowed to bowl over the wrist spin before he is around 12 years of age because of the extreme strain on ligaments and various muscles,” Benaud wrote. That advice was flatly ignored. OTR wanted to keep bowling leggies and his old man probably couldn’t have stopped him – not that he tried. Ironically, it was in the middle of a cricket game that OTR first dislocated his bowling shoulder. Two reconstructions and many years later, the shoulder still isn’t right. To quote Billy Birmingham’s Bill Lawry: “Hail, Richie. Hail, the great man.”