Kenneth Charlie Griffith Benjamin (born 8 April 1967) is a former cricketer from

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who played 26

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and 26

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for

the West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater ...

Playing career

A right arm fast bowler, Benjamin spent much of his international career bowling alongside Courtney Walsh and

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at a ...

. He made his Test debut in their side's first ever Test against South Africa, in 1991–92. He never really made a name for himself until a spell of 6–66 against England in 1993–94 which he followed up with seven wickets in his next Test, finishing the series with 22 wickets. Benjamin then took 17 wickets in the Windies' three test match away series in 1994 against

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. He was also West Indies’ top bowler during the six-Test series in England in 1995. His 23 wickets at 22.00 saw him finish ahead of Ambrose, Walsh and Ian Bishop, while his

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in the fifth Test (5/107 & 5/69) at Trent Bridge bumped him to 10th in the ICC Rankings. Benjamin picked up 37 first class wickets at 24.62 in his lone 1993 season at

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. He later claimed a ten wicket haul of 10 for 150 in Gauteng's win against

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in the final of the 1999/2000

Supersport Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

. Benjamin took a sum of 38 wickets at an average of 15.63 in his six first class matches for Guateng. He eventually signed with fellow South African side, Easterns for the subsequent season.

Coaching career

After his playing career came to a close Benjamin took up coaching. He went on to coach the

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at the

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. While playing for Netherfield cricket team(Kendal) in England's Northern Premier League system, Benjamin was also contracted to coach schoolchildren, one of whom,

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. H ...

, went on to play international rugby for England. Greenwood remembers Benjamin's unique approach to keeping his young pupils attentive:

"If you were foolish enough to horse about, he'd bowl at you, coming in off just one yard and fire down the fastest ball you ever faced. He would then walk down the wicket, and, in a lazy West Indian drawl, say, "Don't mess about in my net sessions"."

Michael Vaughan, in his autobiography, gives credit to a "scary" time spent facing Benjamin in the nets, as formative in his development in facing fast bowlers. Aged 14, Vaughan made the first team at Sheffield Collegiate, for whom Benjamin also played.

References

1967 births Living people Easterns cricketers Gauteng cricketers Leeward Islands cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Antigua and Barbuda cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Expatriate cricketers in England Commonwealth Games competitors for Antigua and Barbuda Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People from St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers {{WestIndies-cricket-bio-stub