Why Charlie turns into Richie each summer

If you don't, you'll have 500 of your peers jeering at your appalling lack of commitment.

And the plastic microphone goes with you at all times for the duration of play - to the bar, the food outlets, the toilet... wherever.

And while having a few cold drinks is to be expected, even encouraged, remember who you're representing and behave accordingly. There's no disrespecting or abusing others.

Welcome to the wacky world of being a 'Richie'.

Yes, those eccentric souls who decide there can be nothing better to do when the temperature hits the mid-40s than to go to the Sydney Cricket Ground for a cricket Test match dressed in the brilliant beige attire of the immortal Richie Benaud.

One such eccentric is Cessnock local Charlie McLennan, 57, who's well known in her community on many levels, none more so than as one of the organising committee for the increasingly popular Postie Bike Rally.

She has been a Richie coming up on five years, has introduced her son George to it, and continues to bring new Richies into the attack, presumably from the Paddington end. This year, Alex Repacholi, the wife of the Federal Member for Cessnock, Dan Repacholi, will be making her SCG debut in beige.

"I have a mini bus taking us down, picking us up here in Cessnock at 5am," Charlie says.

"There will be six of us this year going down, with a couple of other pick-up points in Newcastle and the Lake."

Charlie is forthright to the point of being blunt, doesn't suffer fools, and her language can be colourful, at times spectacularly so. But she loves a laugh.

She is what can loosely be described as a Richie lieutenant. She gets to sit in the back row of allocated seats (which also happen to get more shade) alongside the three Richie founders - Michael Hennessey, Steve Blacker and Simon Colvin (all Sydneysiders) while the newbies sit down the front. It's called a pecking order.

When the Richies began in January 2010 they numbered 10, mostly old school mates of the founding trio. This year that number will hit 500, with a whole bay of SCG seating allocated.

"We have a meeting before the match, usually the Paddington, where we go over songs we will sing - we have a song for most members of the team - and we interview some of the new Richies, all good fun, and then we walk down to the ground," Charlie says.

"It's incredible, insane. The traffic stops, you get all these people leaning out their car windows taking pictures and videos of these 500 Richies in full attire, walking en masse.

"Honestly it's such a hoot ... it's something everyone should put on their bucket list."

At this point the question really needs to be asked: why would a mother of four in her mid-50s suddenly want to become a Richie?

"Okay, let's start at the beginning. I was a sporty girl, very competitive, and always loved the cricket. It was back in the 'caught Marsh bowled Lillee' days," she says.

"Then the one-dayers, I loved them. I especially loved the dress-up days where people would turn up in crazy attire ... you know, you'd see male Pamela Andersons with melons down their tops and all that. The Mexican wave, it just seemed so much fun.

"But as a mother with four young kids I could never get down there.

"So a few years ago I was watching the tele and I saw the Richies, and I knew on the spot that I was going to be one. I just loved it.

"So when my son George turned 18, we went down there as Richies together. He loves the cricket, too, and is a pretty good bowler in fact. We had an absolute ball and haven't looked back."

Such is their Richie passion that they've since branched out and taken it to new venues.

When COVID was at its peak and nurses were getting slammed physically and emotionally, they decided to bring some good cheer to their local drive-through testing station.

"George and I went to get tested at the Cessnock Hospital drive-through but we decided to go in our full Richie outfits. My other son Bill isn't into cricket, but he was with us, too. He sat in the back dressed in a full body-keg outfit.

"Our car windows were tinted so the nurses couldn't see in. When we opened them the nurses were greeted by Richies saying into the microphone 'welcome back after the lunch break to the COVID station for the second session of play'.

"They laughed and laughed and laughed. It brought them some real joy.

"I went home and put it up on Facebook and encouraged others to get dressed up for testing.

"And would you believe that it took off and became a real thing. Loads of people would get dressed up in all sorts of attire ... I'm quite proud that it might have brought some relief to all those stressed out nurses."

Charlie has had some personal experience with nurses - and again, her love of cricket runs is never far away, because she was wearing her favourite Benson and Hedges Australian one-day shirt at the time.

"It was back in 2008 or maybe 2009, I was involved in this really bad car accident when this van in front of me suddenly stopped to turn without indicating.

"I was trapped inside my car, the clutch had wrapped around my leg, my nose was totally smashed, blood everywhere ... I was a mess.

"The paramedics had to cut me from the car and I was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital.

"I was conscious the whole time and I remember the nurses saying they were going to have to cut the shirt off me. I said 'no it's my favourite one-day shirt'.

"They did anyway. I was pretty angry at the time - I understand now, of course - but I wasn't thinking too clearly.

"When they cut it off I insisted they return the shirt to me afterwards, which they did.

"I've had it stitched up again and still wear it today, although it's pretty threadbare now. I've got plenty of other coloured Australian shirts, but this is still the favourite."

What about favourite players then?

"Dennis Lillee and Boony.

"I met Lillee up here in the vineyards one time with his wife Helen and tipped him into a few good cellar doors to visit.

"And I took a holiday in Tasmania once and spent a whole night in Boony's local pub hoping he might turn up for a beer, but he didn't.

"Michael Bevan I liked a lot, and Dean Jones and Andrew Symonds.

"And Warney of course ... I actually flew to Melbourne to go to the MCG for his funeral, then had dinner that night at the Cricketers Arms."

The day itself, watching the cricket and having a laugh with like-minded souls is clearly one big party, but even then there are two stand-out moments for Charlie.

"At the end of play a few Richies will leave their plastic microphone behind - the day's over and besides, we are supplied with a new microphone and wig for each Test.

"I always collect a couple of the left-behind mikes and will give them to the kids on the way out. They absolutely love it. They get a microphone and a picture with a Richie. It means so much to them, it's lovely.

"And of course we all know how Richie used to pronounce two - "tyoo".

"So when the score gets to say, 222, or two-for-22, the whole crowd is waiting for the Richies to erupt, the television cameras are on us waiting, there's a hush around the ground, and then the moment comes. We all break out in "tyoos". Honestly I love sport, but nothing, nothing, can beat that moment."

And finally, what's left cricket-wise on that largely ticked-off bucket list?

"I want to go to the MCG for a Boxing Day Test as a Richie ... see what it's like down there. And after that the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests. You know, get the whole Richie experience.

"And after that I'd really like to go to an Ashes series in England along with a whole team of Richies. Wouldn't that be fantastic ... taking Richie back to England.

"We could sit alongside the Barmy Army and sing songs at each other. Imagine that."