Background
Benkenstein was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), the son of Martin Benkenstein, who had played for Rhodesia in the Currie Cup in the 1970s.
Benkenstein was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), the son of Martin Benkenstein, who had played for Rhodesia in the Currie Cup in the 1970s.
There, Benkenstein attended Highbury Preparatory School and Michaelhouse schools.
In 1980, around the time of Zimbabwean independence, Martin moved his family to Durban, South Africa. He captained the Société Anonyme Schools side in 1992, and led the Société Anonyme Colts team to the West Indies in the same year. Natal
Benkenstein made his debut at the age of 18 for Natal in the 1993/94 season, playing under the tutelage of Malcolm Marshall.
Marshall"s analytical captaincy style made an impression on the young Benkenstein, who was later quoted as saying "In my eyes, he took the art of captaincy to another level" When Marshall left Natal at the end of the 1996 season, Benkenstein, still only 22, was selected to succeed him as captain.
Durham
When Benkenstein joined Durham for the 2005 season, he collected the club"s player of the year award during his first attempt. During this time he also filled in as skipper for the absent Mike Hussey and Paul Collingwood.
He went on to score 1,427 runs, which was a run scoring record at Durham until his mark was overtaken by Michael Di Venuto in 2009. International career
Benkenstein had represented his country many times as a junior, including a stint as captain of the South African Schools side, and in the under-19 development team
Benkenstein"s senior ODI debut for South Africa came against England at Dhaka in 1998/99, when the teams were playing in the quarter-final of the Wills International Cup.
Benkenstein later admitted that he had not taken full advantage of the opportunities that came his way at the international level He was named coach of Hampshire County Cricket Club in February 2014 as previously he work as a batting coach for the South African side Sunfoil Dolphins. As of 19 July 2011.
Despite some useful contributions, including 69 against the West Indies at Cape Town in 1998 and 3/5 against Kenya in the 2002/03 Interstate Commerce Commission Champions Trophy tournament, he never managed to establish himself as a permanent member of the team