Winston Keithroy Matthew Benjamin (born 31 December 1964) is a former Antiguan cricketer who played 21 Tests and 85 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. He is the father of Olympic gold medalist hurdler Rai Benjamin.[1]

Winston Benjamin
Personal information
Full name
Winston Keithroy Matthew Benjamin
Born (1964-12-31) 31 December 1964 (age 59)
All Saints, Antigua and Barbuda
NicknamePrivate
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
International information
National side
Test debut25 November 1987 v India
Last Test29 April 1995 v Australia
ODI debut17 October 1986 v Pakistan
Last ODI28 May 1995 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1985–1995Leeward Islands
1986–1993Leicestershire
1994–1996Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC LA
Matches 21 85 171 222
Runs scored 470 298 3,985 1,725
Batting average 18.80 7.45 22.51 14.13
100s/50s 0/2 0/0 2/21 1/4
Top score 85 31 117 104*
Balls bowled 3,694 4,442 26,876 10,716
Wickets 61 100 476 263
Bowling average 27.01 30.79 25.96 26.61
5 wickets in innings 0 1 23 5
10 wickets in match 0 0 2 0
Best bowling 4/46 5/22 7/54 5/17
Catches/stumpings 12/– 16/– 95/– 46/–
Source: Cricket Archive, 20 October 2010

Domestic career

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Benjamin originally burst on the scene in 1985 when he was given a Viv Richards scholarship to England in 1985. He played at Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club in the highly rated Liverpool Competition and finished the season with 106 wickets at an average of 7.57, a best of 8-20 and five or more wickets on eleven occasions. Chester Boughton Hall finished the season as champions.

This drew the attention of Leicestershire in the County Championship where he played from 1986 to 1993 before moving to Hampshire from 1994 to 1996.

International career

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He made his Test debut against India at Delhi on the 1987–88 tour. After eight Tests he was left out of the team until 1993, when he played consistently for two years, but he was dropped again after Australia's 1994–95 tour and never returned to the side.

Benjamin took 39 wickets at an average of 19.30 in his first 11 Tests, though his final ten appearances yielded 22 scalps at 40.68.

He played more regularly in the shorter format of the game, and was a fixture in the side from his debut against Pakistan at Peshawar in 1986–87 until West Indies' 1995 tour of England.

Coaching career

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After his playing career at the highest level was over, he acted as coach for the Leeward Islands, but was sacked in June 2005. Now he is a coach for a leeward island (Antigua) at the Clare Hall Secondary School.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Antiguan star athlete Rai Benjamin switches allegiance to USA". Archived from the original on 23 January 2019.
  2. ^ [1] Leewards sack Benjamin, 1 July 2005, retrieved 16 March 2007