Richie Benaud: Cricket commentator receiving radiation treatment for skin cancer

Benaud told Nine Network that the cancers, on his forehead and the top of his head, were caused by playing too much cricket in the sun

Cricket commentator Richie Benaud has revealed that he’s receiving radiation therapy to treat skin cancer just a year after he suffered serious injuries following a car crash.

The 84-year-old former Australian test star has been absent from his usual slot on Nine Network’s commentary team since his accident.

Benaud told reporters that the cancers, on his forehead and the top of his head, were caused by playing too much cricket in the sun without wearing proper protection.

“When I was a kid, you never ever wore a cap - not a flash one,” Benaud told Nine Network.

“That's because Keith Miller never wore a cap. Arthur Morris did when he went out to bat.

“We follow various people and 'Nugget' Miller never wore anything on his head, so I didn't.

“I wish I had.”

“I recommend to everyone they wear protection on their heads,” he said by way of advice, particularly to cricketers playing in hot countries.

“Eighty-four-year-olds don't seem to mend as well as they used to.”

He went on to add that he was still recovering from his car accident with two fractured vertebrae but aimed to return to the network to cover Australia's fourth Test against India at Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2015.

Benaud said he’d been recovering by walking for 40 minutes each morning.

In October, fellow Australian Hugh Jackman revealed he had undergone treatment for skin cancer on his nose.

It was the third time he’d been diagnosed with the carcinoma.

“I'm realistic about the future and it's more than likely that I’ll have at least one more but probably many more, which is not uncommon for an Aussie particularly from English stock growing up in Australia where I don't remember ever being told to put sunscreen on,” he told the Associated Press in May.

“But the beauty of this is it's all preventable, it's just about getting proper check-ups. I can be typical man, a little lazy, I couldn't be bothered and now I'm not lazy at all.”

In Great Britain, breast, lung, bowel and prostate cancer make up over 53 per cent of all reported cases, according to Cancer Research UK.

However, in the United States basal cell carcinoma is the most commonly suffered form of cancer.

In Australia, over 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers each year. In 2011, 543 people died from skin cancer.