It was February 18, 1961, and the school teacher from Lyneham High School took his place for the Prime Minister's XI team photo at Canberra's Manuka Oval, in a squad that included Australian cricket greats such as Bill Lawry, Ray Lindwall and Norm O'Neill. To Cope's right was Benaud.

"In my eyes he was a colossus, almost a god, so you didn't get too close," Cope recalls.

"In the summer of '58-'59 we were teammates in the NSW Sheffield Shield squad. I can't say I had a lot to do with him, he was on a much higher pedestal than I was. We didn't get to play together because he was captaining Australia at the time and I'd just recently made my first grade debut in Sydney ... there was a distance between us that I didn't dare to breach.

"I saw him as a quiet, reserved person, a man who easily earned people's respect. But he was also a man who gave respect in return."

Cope's experiences with Benaud were fleeting, but the memories lasting.

Now 77, retired, Cope recalls facing Benaud for the first time in a Sydney grade game. The young number three from St George came to the crease, more comfortable against the quicks, but had the wily leg-spin of Benaud to contend with.

"The first ball he bowled to me I played forward and I can still remember his eyes lit up," Cope says. "He had summed up a weakness in one ball. The next ball I played the same way and I was out LBW. As I walked off I thought 'well John, you've still got a lot to learn about this game of cricket'."

Cope relocated to Canberra in 1960, to play with Kingston. But his path would cross with Benaud again, in 1961, when Cope received an unexpected telegram from the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.

"I think I've still got it, but it read: 'would you accept a position in the PM's XI versus West Indies, RG Menzies.' Would I what! I was so excited," Cope says.

Set 289 to win, Cope sat in the changing room at the change of innings, wondering where he would bat in a team boasting six Australian test players.

"All of a sudden the captain, Ray Lindwall, swept into the room and said 'fellas, I've just been talking to to big Wes Hall (the genuinely fast and ferocious bowler). He wants to send down a few opening overs to for the crowd, who wants to open?' Every head went down, no one was interested. I thought here's my chance.

"As Bill Lawry and I went through the gate, my foot hit the ground, I thought what have I done? Then I remember thinking I'll be able to tell my grandchildren I was knocked unconscious by Wes Hall."

Instead, Cope tells them now of the day he rubbed shoulders with Richie Benaud.

"He's such a big loss."