Dale Martin Benkenstein (born 9 June 1974) is a South African former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who was an all-rounder. He is also a former first-team coach at

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Benkenstein was a member of the South Africa team that won the

1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy The 1998 Wills International Cup was a One Day International cricket tournament held in Bangladesh. New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe in a pre-quarter-final match to qualify for the main knockout stage. Future editions of this tournament are now kno ...

Early life

Benkenstein was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, Zimbabwe), the son of Martin Benkenstein, who had played for Rhodesia in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

in the 1970s. In 1980, around the time of Zimbabwean independence, Martin moved his family to

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa. There, Benkenstein attended Durban Preparatory High School, Durban High School and

Michaelhouse Michaelhouse is a full boarding senior school for boys founded in 1896. It is located in the Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal, Balgowan valley in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Spear’s Schools Index 2025 reco ...

schools. He captained the SA Schools side in 1992, and led the SA Colts team to the West Indies in the same year.

Domestic career

Natal

Benkenstein made his debut at the age of 18 for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the 1993/94 season, playing under the tutelage of

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

. 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. While he got off to an unsteady start as captain, with Natal being heavily defeated by

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

in his first game at the helm, he later recovered and led the team to win both the four-day and one-day domestic competitions.

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 Paul David Collingwood (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England cricket team, England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood was a ...

. 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. Dale has been quoted as to saying 2008 may be his last season in the sport as he wants to spend more time with his wife Jacqueline and children in

Consett Consett is a town in the County Durham (district), County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of County Durham, Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in ...

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

in 1998/99, when the teams were playing in the quarter-final of the Wills International Cup. Despite some useful contributions, including 69 against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 1998 and 3/5 against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in the 2002/03

ICC Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knock Out Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by international men's teams. Inaugurat ...

tournament, he never managed to establish himself as a permanent member of the team. Benkenstein later admitted that he had not taken full advantage of the opportunities that came his way at the international level.

Coaching career

Benkenstein was named coach of

in February 2014, having worked as a batting coach for the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n side

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

. He left his coaching role at Hampshire in July 2016 due to family reasons. After returning to South Africa he became head coach at Hilton College where he worked with 2019 Hilton

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

, and future Hampshire County Cricket Club bowler,

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

. In May 2021, Benkenstein joined

as batting coach on a short-term contract. In November 2021 he was named head coach of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

on a three-year contract. He was appointed head coach of Lancashire in 2023. Benkenstein left the role by mutual consent in May 2025, with the club seventh in division two of the County Championship at the halfway point of the season.

Awards

Benkenstein was named one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based "primarily for their influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 2009, based on his work with Durham in the English county championship.

Style

Benkenstein was a right-handed batsman, and a right-arm off-break or right-arm medium pace bowler.

Career best performances

''Updated 19 July 2011''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benkenstein, Dale Afrikaner people White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa South African cricketers Alumni of Michaelhouse Alumni of Highbury Preparatory School 1974 births Living people South Africa One Day International cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Dolphins (South African cricket team) players 21st-century South African sportsmen Durham cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England Durham cricket captains Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Delhi Giants cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Harare Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers South African cricket coaches Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cricket Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games