Robert Mulock Bentley (born 3 November 1958) is a former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er who played for both his native Rhodesia and

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

. Bentley lined up for Rhodesia for the first time in the 1978/79 Currie Cup. In the following season's campaign the team was renamed Zimbabwe-Rhodesia before the county became fully independent in 1980. Later that year he represented Zimbabwe in two first-class matches against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

who were touring the country. While many of his teammates went on to play One Day International cricket for Zimbabwe, Bentley instead moved to South Africa and joined Natal. He was a regular batsman in the middle order at Natal, often at three, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. After spending the 1982 English summer as a professional at Lancashire League club

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,96 ...

, Bentley returned to South Africa and had his most prolific season with 639 runs at 45.64. Also a capable off spin bowler, his first-class wickets include

Graeme Pollock Robert Graeme Pollock (born 27 February 1944) is a former cricketer for South Africa, Transvaal and Eastern Province. A member of a famous cricketing family, Pollock is widely regarded as one of South Africa's greatest ever cricketers, and as ...

Kepler Wessels Kepler Christoffel Wessels (born 14 September 1957) is a South African-Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained South Africa after playing 24 Tests for Australia. Since retiring he has been a lawn bowls competitor. He ...

Peter Kirsten Peter Noel Kirsten (born 14 May 1955) is a former cricketer who represented South Africa in 12 Test matches and 40 One Day Internationals from 1991 to 1994. He is the current coach of the Ugandan national side, having been appointed in August ...

and

Allan Lamb Allan Joseph Lamb (born 20 June 1954) is a South African-born former English cricketer, who played for the first-class teams of Western Province and Northamptonshire. Making his Test debut in 1982, he was a fixture in the Test and One-Day Intern ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Robert 1958 births Living people Sportspeople from Bindura Zimbabwean cricketers Rhodesia cricketers South African cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers