Winston Benjamin

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 60) All Saints, Antigua and Barbuda
Nickname	Private
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
International information
National side	West Indies (1986–1995)
Test debut	25 November 1987 v India
Last Test	29 April 1995 v Australia
ODI debut	17 October 1986 v Pakistan
Last ODI	28 May 1995 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1985–1995	Leeward Islands
1986–1993	Leicestershire
1994–1996	Hampshire
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

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

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

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]