A taste of Bajan cricket (10 February 1999)

10 February 1999

A taste of Bajan cricket

Tony Cozier

Dale Benkenstein referred to the benefits of his experience in Barbados club cricket in 1995 following his match-winning innings of 69 for South Africa in the fifth One-Day International in Cape Town last week.

And his love for the island developed during his six months as the first South African to play in the local competition was emphasised with his comment in an interview in the Cape Argus.

"It's one of the few places I've been to and did not want to come back home," he said.

Benkenstein, now 24, first came to Barbados as captain of the South African Under-19 development team that accompanied the senior national team on its tour of the West Indies in 1992. He returned for the Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools tournament a year later and joined Wanderers for part of the 1994 season.

"I found the conditions similar to South Africa with quick tracks, fast bowlers and all that," he said. "There were some objections to me playing, because there was supposedly a residential qualification for overseas players, and the association had to give clearance.

"But Wanderers were just happy to have me and personally it was great for me to play there because, at that stage, I reckon the West Indies were the top team."

Other South Africans have followed Benkenstein to Wanderers: wicket-keeper Wendell Bossenger, who hit a century against the West Indies for Grigualand West on the current tour, in 1995 and left-handed opener Phil Hearle in 1997.

Benkenstein said he was a little apprehensive as to how he would be received as a white South African. Instead, he was "overwhelmed" by the hospitality of Barbadians from all walks of life.

"The members at Wanderers were great and it was a tremendous experience not only playing in the club championship but also being welcomed for tape-ball cricket in the road," he said.

"That was something I'd not had before," he noted. "A lot of the Barbados players reckoned it was as good as net practice and I could see why. The ball came on quick and moved around."

Benkenstein spoke of the friendships he made through cricket with Michael Edwards, now Wanderers' captain, who still keeps in touch by e-mail, his father, the former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler, Richard "Prof" Edwards, Barbados players Winston Reid, Sean Armstrong and "that plump older guy who bowled leg-spin" George Linton, among many others.

"It was just great listening to the cricket stories although I did take a little time fully understanding Bajan," he said.

Benkenstein stayed with the Edghill family in Christ Church and has remained close to them. He hopes to come to Barbados after the World Cup in England in the summer, if he is chosen.

He relates one story that is still vivid in his memory.

"I had my bike stolen so I had to walk to Wanderers to practice, down Rendezvous Hill," he said. "One day, I saw this old lady near the bottom pushing a trolley with some groceries so I offered to push it up the hill for her. It was really nothing to do but, when we got to the top, she was crying. She said no one had ever done that for her before. That really touched me."

Now captain of the provincial team, KwaZulu Natal, Benkenstein has just forced his way into the South African team, making his debut in the Wills International Cup in Bangladesh in October.

Two injuries sidelined him early in the season and he was not selected again until the third match in his home town, Durban. He has been chosen for the tour of New Zealand and seems a certainty for the World Cup.

He has played only One-Day Internationals but is eager to get into the Test team. "No one wants to be exclusively a One-Day player," he said.

He has great admiration for South African captain Hansie Cronje.

"I find, being a captain myself, I always learn something from Hansie every day and it match situations," he said. "And I believe my career will improve quicker because I'm playing under him."

"It must be a great feeling for him to have won the Test series and now wrapped up the one-dayers as well because he was in the side to the West Indies in 1992 under Kepler Wessels that lost the Test in Barbados and all three one-day matches. It's amazing how the tide has turned."

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)