Chris Benjamin was among the breakout stars of the inaugural season of the Hundred, starring on Birmingham Phoenix debut with a match-winning 24 not out off 15 balls barely three weeks after he had signed his first professional contract. "Nasser, what is that?!" yelped Kevin Pietersen as Benjamin reverse-scooped London Spirit's Blake Cullen for six. Two weeks later, another cameo sealed victory against Oval Invincibles as Phoenix finished top of the group stages.

Born in Johannesburg, Benjamin holds a British passport through his father and qualifies as a local player in English domestic cricket. He moved to the UK in 2018 to study accounting and finance at Durham University. He earned a trial at Warwickshire after being spotted playing at Loughborough by second-team coach Ian Westwood and captained them to the Second XI T20 competition in 2021.

He earned a rookie contract for the second half of the 2021 season with Warwickshire keen to add wicket-keeping back-up to their squad and made an instant impression with 60 on his full T20 debut in the Blast. He had impressed Moeen Ali in a second-team game with his ability to score quickly against spin, and Moeen recommended him as a last-minute replacement replacement in the Hundred.

Benjamin went on to score 127 from No. 3 on his Championship debut against Lancashire later in the summer, underlining his ambitions to become a multi-format player. He also made his List A debut in 2021, scoring a half-century the day before his Hundred debut.

ESPNcricinfo staff