Richard Benaud, "a true gentleman". Photo: Wayne Ludbey

At Lord's Cricket Ground, the home of cricket, the famous MCC's weathervane depicts old Father Time in his most ominous shape as the scythe-carrying grim reaper.

He bends down to remove a bail from the stumps, enacting Law 16(3) of cricket: "after the call of Time, the bails shall be removed".

Father Time is now on Twitter, as the official account of Lord's. And on Thursday night he Tweeted amid the marketing messages to mark the mortality of a great man: "Very sad to hear of the passing of Richie Benaud, a true great in the game of cricket, my thoughts are with his family".

It was one of many farewells to Benaud in the land where he began his commentating career after Australia's 1956 tour to England he stayed behind to train as a presenter with the BBC, then worked as a reporter at the News of the World. His first BBC radio commentary came in 1960, followed by his first TV appearance three years later.

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The news of his death broke after midnight in the UK, but some marked it immediately.

England coach Peter Moores said Benaud "sums up all that is great about our sport. He was a true gentleman.

"He made heroes of the players he commentated on and his enthusiasm for the sport made you want to get off the sofa and play." In the morning English Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke said it was "a very sad day".

"Cricket has lost perhaps its greatest advocate and someone who was a true giant of the modern game," he said. "He will always, above all, be remembered as one of cricket's most influential and authoritative voices; a supremely gifted broadcaster, journalist and author.

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Father Time calls time on cricketing great Richie Benaud