Sulieman Jamaal Benn (born 22 July 1981 in

Saint James, Barbados The parish of Saint James ("St. James") is an area located in the western central part of the country of Barbados. Increasingly St. James is becoming known as the playground of the rich and famous, and as a haven for sun-starved tourists with its ...

) is a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

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 who plays international cricket 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 A ...

and first-class cricket for

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. Benn debuted in 1999/00, as a

left-arm orthodox spin Left-arm orthodox spin, Left-arm off spin also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of Finger spin, left-arm finger spin bowling (cricket), bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left-arm bow ...

bowler. He is also a fairly useful left-handed batsman with a first-class average of 17.48. Since his debut season, Benn has had to fight hard for a place in a Barbados team containing four West Indian international fast bowlers.

International career

Following a series of strong performances in the 2007/08

Carib Beer Cup The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as Shell Shield and Carib Beer Cup, is the first-class cricket competition in the West Indies. It is administered by the Cricket West Indies. In the 2013-2014 season the winner of the tourname ...

, Benn was called up to the West Indies Test squad. He beat off competition from

Amit Jaggernauth Amit Sheldon Jaggernauth (born 16 November 1983) is a former West Indian cricketer who featured as an off spinner. Jaggernauth mainly played as a first-class cricketer for Trinidad and Tobago. Career In recent years, Jaggernauth has been one o ...

for the spinner's spot and on 22 March 2008 he made his debut for the West Indies in the first Test against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

at Providence Stadium, Guyana. He bowled quite well in Sri Lanka's first innings, bowling 40 overs at an economy of 3.00, but went unrewarded. In his first Test innings he scored 28 and helped contribute to some useful lower-order resistance after the West Indies top order had been dismissed cheaply. In Sri Lanka's second innings, he claimed his first Test wicket,

Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...

(caught by

Shivnarine Chanderpaul Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul (born 16 August 1974) is a Guyanese cricket coach and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. Considered one of the greatest batsmen of his era, Chanderpaul is the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for ...

), and finished with 3/59. He could only manage 7 with the bat in his second innings as the West Indies slid to defeat by 121 runs. On 6 December 2009, on the third day of the 2nd test against Australia, Benn managed his first five-wicket haul with career best figures of 5/155 after bowling 53 overs for the innings. In the third test between West Indies and Australia at the WACA, Benn came under scrutiny for a mid-pitch altercation with

Brad Haddin Bradley James Haddin (born 23 October 1977), is a former Australian cricketer, vice-captain and coach who represented Australia in all three forms of international cricket. He played domestically for New South Wales as a right-handed batsman a ...

and

Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Guy Johnson (born 2 November 1981) is a former Australian cricketer, who played all forms of the game for his national side. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He made his Test debut for Australia in November 2007 ...

after tangling with Johnson when attempting to field the ball and he was subsequently banned for two ODIs after being found guilty of breaching the spirit of the game. On 28 February 2010, in a

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

international against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, Benn became the first bowler to bowl two maiden overs in a

international against a nation with test status, finishing with figures of four wickets for six runs. At the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fina ...

, Benn and

Nikita Miller Nikita O'Brien Miller (born 16 May 1982) is a West Indian cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies and domestic cricket for Jamaica. He is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and lower-order batsman. He was the leading wicket ta ...

set the record for the highest 10th wicket partnership in T20 World Cups (20). That record was later equalled by the partnership between

Steven Finn Steven Thomas Finn (born 4 April 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-arm fast bowler, who also bats right-handed. At the age of 16, he became Middlesex County Cricket Club's youngest-ever debutant in first-class cricket. He made his E ...

and

Jade Dernbach Jade Winston Dernbach (born 3 March 1986) is a former professional cricketer. He represented Surrey (2003–2021), England (2011–2014) and Italy (2021). He made his first-class debut in 2003 and won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2004 and ...

at the 2012 tournament.

2010 home series against South Africa

During the three-test series in June 2010 against South Africa, Benn took 15 wickets at an average of 30.6, and a strike rate of 29.3, and achieved his Test best bowling figures of 6/81 in South Africa's 1st innings in the Third Test. Despite Benn's efforts, his display was tarnished through a spitting incident with South African fast bowler

Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...

. Benn was reported to have provoked Steyn to spit on the feet of Benn after his dismissal when batting, and this resulted in a formal complaint to the ICC from

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

, which was matched by a complaint from West Indies Cricket also, causing Steyn to lose his match fee.

References

External links

Cricinfo Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benn, Sulieman 1981 births Living people Barbadian cricketers Barbados cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Trinbago Knight Riders cricketers Sylhet Strikers cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup People from Saint James, Barbados West Indies B cricketers