Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Emmanuel Benjamin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Jullundur, Punjab, India | 2 February 1955||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Left-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Slow left-arm[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1973–1978 | Punjab (India) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1980 | Bedfordshire (minor counties) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1982 | Tasmania | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 2 April 2014 |
Emmanuel Benjamin (born 2 February 1955), nicknamed Benji,[2] is an Australian former professional cricketer who played at high levels in Australia, England, and India. He was born in India, but emigrated to Australia in the 1980s and became a naturalised Australian citizen.
Born in Jullundur,[3] Benjamin toured the British Isles with an India Schools representative side during the 1973 English season, playing six matches alongside future Test player Bharath Reddy and several other future first-class cricketers.[4] After playing for a North Zone schools side in the under-age Cooch Behar Trophy, Benjamin made his first-class debut in October 1973,[5] taking two wickets for a Vazir Sultan Tobacco Colts XI against a Hyderabad Cricket Association XI in the quarter-final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament.[6] A bowling all-rounder, he debuted for Punjab later that month, taking 5/37 on debut against Jammu and Kashmir,[7] and was a regular in Ranji Trophy teams through to the 1977–78 season.[8] His best innings figures also came against Jammu and Kashmir – 6/51 in November 1975 to help bowl out the side for 167 in the first innings.[9]
Benjamin spent the 1980 English season playing for Bedfordshire in the Minor Counties Championship, a spell which included half-centuries against Buckinghamshire and Shropshire.[10][11] His best figures in the competition, 6/85, came against Suffolk in both teams' last match of the season, which was not enough to prevent a one-wicket loss after Suffolk's final three batsmen put on 89 runs (including 53 not out from Colin Rutterford).[12]
During the 1981–82 Sheffield Shield season, Benjamin played a single match for Tasmania, bowling 23 overs without taking a wicket.[13] Remaining in Australia, he had a long career for the Ulverstone Cricket Club at grade cricket level,[14] and became a naturalised citizen of Australia in 1991.[15]
A resident of Leith (near Ulverstone), Benjamin unsuccessfully contested the Division of Braddon for the Tasmanian branch of the National Party at the 2014 state election. He received 0.79% of first preference votes, while the party's candidates collectively received 2.16% on first preferences.[16]