Beni Gopaul Sankar (born 25 September 1948) is a Guyanese businessman and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He captained Essequibo in its only first-class match, in the final of the 1980–81 inter-county Jones Cup. Sankar was born at Cornelia Ida, in what is now the

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region 3) is a Regions of Guyana, region of Guyana. Split in two by the Essequibo River, Venezuela claims the territory to the west of Essequibo river as part of Delta Amacuro state, what represents Essequibo Isl ...

region of Guyana, but was then considered to be part of the county of

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

. He is thus the only Essequibo first-class cricketer born outside of Essequibo county. Sankar's father, Kayman Sankar, who died in February 2014, was an

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...

rice magnate, who rose from a labourer to "Guyana’s most successful rice farmer". Beni Sankar studied at England's

National College of Agricultural Engineering The National College of Agricultural Engineering was opened in 1962. It was closed as a separate entity at the end of 2007 and the land sold for housing. Foundation In February 1959, the Ministry of Education (United Kingdom), Minister of Edu ...

Silsoe Silsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. The village used to be on the main A6 road but a bypass around the village was opened in 1981 at a cost of £1.6m. History Origin The village name is derived from the Danish word ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, graduating in 1974, and entered his father's employment, eventually becoming CEO of the Kayman Sankar Group. He was also a director of Demerara Distilleries and Demerara Bank,Past Chairs
– Private Sector Commission. Retrieved 2 December 2014. and in the late 2000s helped to establish Guyana's

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

industry, establishing 25 acres of

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

s at his father's property in

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

. Sankar has also served as president of Guyana's Private Sector Commission (from 1994 to 1996), president of Georgetown's

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

, and chairman of the Caribbean Rice Association. Outside of business, Sankar has been keenly involved in Guyanese sport, holding a pilots' licence and serving as a president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association and as a vice-president of the

Guyana Cricket Board The Guyana Cricket Board is the ruling body for cricket in Guyana. Guyana Cricket Board The Guyana Cricket Board has regions who play cricket in the Country. Below is the history of the regions of certain cricket boards in the country. And also ...

. His first-class cricket career was brief, consisting only of a single match for Essequibo. The match was played against

Berbice Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 to 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...

at the

Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground The Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground is a sporting venue in Hamptoncourtpolder, a village on the Atlantic coastline of Guyana's Pomeroon-Supenaam region. Its chief use has been as a cricket ground, though in recent years it has also hosted grasstrack ...

, named for Sankar's father and located near his Hampton Court property. Sankar captained Essequibo, and, playing as a top-order batsman, scored two runs in the first innings and 20 runs in the second innings. He also bowled a single over of right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

in Berbice's second innings, conceding four runs without taking a wicket.Essequibo v Berbice
Jones Cup 1980/81 (Final) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 December 2014. Berbice won the match by nine wickets in what was Essequibo's only first-class match – only the final of the three-team Jones Cup (later the Guystac Trophy) was accorded first-class status, and Essequibo made the final only once, having defeated

in an earlier match. The scorecards of the non-first-class matches played by Essequibo are not available before the late 1990s, and it is therefore uncertain how Sankar played for Essequibo in other matches.Other matches played by Essequibo
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 December 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sankar, Beni 1948 births Living people Alumni of Cranfield University Businesspeople in agriculture Essequibo cricketers Guyanese businesspeople Guyanese cricketers Indo-Guyanese people Pisciculturists People from Essequibo Islands-West Demerara