Former England pacer Joey Benjamin passes away at 60

Joey Benjamin former England and Surrey pacer has died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attackSurrey club chairman Richard Thompson paid tribute to the St Kittsborn seamer saying Ive known Joey for 25 years and have gloried in his triumphs I particularly remember the final Test at The Oval in 1994 where his performance earned him an Ashes tour It was a long time coming as anyone who watched him bowl that season would testifyEverything he did was with a smile and grace He wore the brown cap very proudly with absolute distinction and will be long remembered at Surrey County Cricket Club He has been taken too soon he addedBenjamin had to wait until he was 27 before breaking into the county game impressing for Staffordshire and at club level before Warwickshire took him on and gave him his Championship debut in 1988 His brisk pace and ability to swing the ball away from righthanders was noticed by Surrey despite limited opportunities at Edgbaston and he joined the staff at the Kia Oval in 1992 quickly establishing himself as a regular member of the County Championship sideIncreasing familiarity with his new surroundings saw him flourish with a haul of 64 Championship wickets the following season It was in 1994 at the mature age of 33 that the best of Benjamin came through as a campaign that brought him 76 victims at 20 apiece earned him a crack at the international sceneIncluded in the squad for the penultimate Test of the summer against South Africa at Headingley he missed out on the final eleven but replaced Angus Fraser in the next match at his adopted home of The OvalOne of three Surrey players in the side alongside county skipper Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe Benjamin trapped Hansie Cronje and Kepler Wessels LBW before having David Richardson caught behind and Craig Matthews snaffled in the slips to finish with 464 in 17 impressive oversThat he was restricted to 11 wicketless overs in the second innings owed much to Devon Malcolms remarkably destructive 957 one of the great fast bowling displays in the history of Test cricket but his solid contribution to a serieslevelling victory was rewarded by a place in England touring side to Australia the following winterThat successful outing in the Oval Test was also some compensation for the crushing disappointment Benjamin had felt nine days earlier when he almost snatched a remarkable victory in Surreys NatWest Trophy semifinal thriller against Worcestershire Few gave the hosts a chance after Tim Curtis 136no had partnered Tom Moody 180no in a mighty stand of 309 which sped Worcestershire to 3572This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever