da bet7： Johannesburg: If Courtney Walsh is considered too valuable to the WestIndies attack to leave out of their side at the age of 37, considerthen the case for 32-year-old Antiguan reject Kenneth Benjamin nowplying his trade for Gauteng
Trevor Chesterfield14-Nov-2007If Courtney Walsh is considered too valuable to the West Indies attack to leave out of their side at the age of 37, consider then the case for 32-year-old Antiguan reject Kenny Benjamin nowplying his trade for Gauteng.It could be that, as with many from the Caribbean, he fell out of favour with Brian Lara, the ultimate egotist who led the West Indies as the lurched from one disaster to the next during last summer circus of South Africa.Whatever the reason, Benjamin has become a handy weapon for Gauteng as they try to rescue some sort of image out of an average season. Not that the Leeward Islander, whose career best is a seven for 51 against Lara Trinidad and Tobago when the left-hander was of a morehumble, pleasant nature as he made his way in the world. It is a lesson for all.Yesterday Benjamin, the third West Indian fast bowler employed by Gauteng, since the rebel era, collected his second five wicket haul in a SuperSport Series Super Eights match against KawZulu/Natal. His 5 for 34 in 15 overs against Natal was a little short of a SouthAfrican best 5 for 22 against lowly ranked Easterns.Not that Natal batted all that well. With their top-order shot away byBenjamin ability to use the conditions and damp pitch as well atthe heavy atmosphere, the were always going to battle on a Chris Scottprepared pitch which was far more generous towards the batsmen thanwas the case with the first Test against England almost a month ago.Contracted after Gauteng unctuous effort to lure Steve Elworthyfrom Northerns failed, Benjamin arrived later than the coaching staffof Rodney Ontong and Mark ODonnell would have liked.This oddly matched duo, highly sensitive to the slightest hint ofmedia criticism of Gauteng failings, or of their charges, evenwhen it is justified, are quick to brush over the cracks in the systemby pointing to Benjamin name at the head of bowling averages listbefore the start of the game against Natal.Not that five wickets against batting paupers such as Easterns isanything to tub thump about.The night Gauteng main sponsors, Datatech, launched the seasonwith a number of awards, we had some DJ trotting out the sort ofeulogies which had Ontong and ODonnell wondering if both theSuperSport and Standard Bank trophies were already locked up in thedusty trophy cabinet.It says little for Gauteng resources that they had to buy fromelsewhere a hired gun to earn some of that success which has seen themmove to second spot on the Super Eights log behind Border. First theyhad the now late Sylvester Clarke, then it was Rod Estwick; now thethird West Indian fast bowler has been signed to bail them out.At least Border took the points from their outright win over Gautengat the Wanderers through to the Super Eights, a result which no doubtstill rankles with Ontong and ODonnell.Perhaps some of Natal indifferent batting yesterday helpedGauteng cause with a lead of 4-3 in bonus points. Generally Natalfirst innings score of 264 was a disappointing effort. At an earlyclose because of bad light Gauteng had reached 48 without loss, 216behind with Adam Bacher not out on 28 and Sven Koening on 14.They had to work just as hard at time for their runs with the scoringrate of 2.4 while the bowling combination of left-handers RossVeenstra and Gary Gilder giving away 15 runs in their collectiveopening spell of 13 overs.Which showed the value of Benjamin’s efforts. Topping the nationalbowling averages going into the game with 16 at 13.50 he bowledskilfully and managed to get some impressive sideways movement afterNatal captain Dale Benkenstein won the toss and elected to bat first.His opening spell of 6-5-6-3 accounted for Doug Watson (0), MarkBruyns (9) and Andrew Hudson (7) with his first victim, Watson,falling lbw to only the second ball he bowled.Sharing the new ball with David Terbrugge, the lanky Antiguan bowledthree spells with his first by far the most impressive.Terbrugge was steady and at times unfortunate to end with two for 48while the Gauteng captain, Clive Eksteen bowled an unbroken spell of23 overs, all from the Corlett Drive end, and in the end his figuresof two for 73 in 25 overs were a tribute to his tenacity.Natal’s problem was that they were unable to build any substantialpartnerships with the best between Errol Stewart with a solid 63 andthe former SA under-19 cap, Ahmed Amla whose 49 off 75 balls in apartnership of 69 for the fifth wicket was a bold rescue effort totake the score from 58 for four to 127 for five.The other 50 partnership was Stewart and Jon Kent with 32 off 80balls. There was always movement through the air and off the pitchwith the batsmen rarely able to drive with about 60 percent of thescoring strokes, especially off Eksteen either square or behind thewicket. Only two of the five bound ray stokes off Benjamin’s bowlingwere in front of the wicket. The first was a cover drive by Hudsonwhile Stewart’s was an on-drive which left the fieldsmen groping.Terbrugge’s last spell was as remarkable for its control as it was forquality, getting rid of Stewart and Kent while five over throwsblemished his figures of 8-0-19-2. His ability to break up twopartnerships which set about rebuilding Natal’s confidence was as goodas anything he has bowled this season.