James Benning

Squad Number - 2

Player Sponsor -

Born - London, 4 May, 1983

Joined - Leicestershire 2009

Role - Right hand batsman, Right arm medium bowler

Family -

Teams Represented - England u15s-19s, Surrey, Leicestershire

Honours -

Highlights of Career - Scoring maiden first-class century, making 146-ball 189* in C&G 2006, scoring 134-ball 152 in sharing a Surrey record one-day partnership with Ali Brown (294) as the county posted a world record List A total of 496-4. All three of these innings were against Gloucestershire.

Players Admired - Alec Stewart, Adam Hollioake

Relaxations - Gym, music, spending time with family and friends

Talented all-rounder James Benning joined Leicestershire during the 2009 season from Surrey, initially on a loan until the end of the season and then on a permanent deal for the 2010 campaign.

London-born Benning is an aggressive batsman who likes to score freely. He demonstrated his talents during a number of innings in 2009, including making scores of 89, 61 and 47 against Lancashire, Derbyshire and former club Surrey in the Pro40 and 72 in the Championship game at Northants.

He is also a more than handy operator with the ball, bowling skiddy medium pacers effectively in all formats. Benning took a first-class career-best 3-43 for Leics against Glamorgan and also chipped in with some handy Pro40 performances.

Benning has a reputation for being a clean striker of the ball from his time at The Oval, where he turned in a number of impressive one-day performances.

He has a stunning career-best score of 189* from just 146 balls, and also scored a 134-ball 152 in sharing a Surrey record one-day partnership with Ali Brown (294) as the county posted a world record List A total of 496-4. Both of these knocks came against Gloucs, whom he also made his maiden first-class century against.

Benning also has a Twenty20 top score of 88 and an impressive strike rate of more than 130 in hisTwenty20 career.

His List A bowling best, somewhat ironically, came against Leicestershire at The Oval when he took 4-43 in 2003.

His chances became limited at Surrey, though, and a fresh start at Grace Road is one he has already taken on with relish. Benning is clearly a talented performer and Foxes followers will be looking forward to seeing him have a full season in Leicestershire colours.

Benning's career record at Leics (up to end of 2009 season):

JGE Benning 2009 (76.07 kB)