Chris Benjamin takes the fast track to stardom after extraordinary seizing of the moment

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Stunning scooped six announces talent of young batter on Warwickshire rookie contract

George Dobell24-Jul-2021Given Chris Benjamin’s current career trajectory, he’ll be Prime Minister by Thursday.In his media conference after the game, the 22-year-old Benjamin said he had “waited patiently” for this opportunity. “This is something I’ve waited a long time for,” he said. But it seems, from the outside, as if everything has happened in an incredible rush.Benjamin was only signed as a professional player three weeks ago. He’s only played one T20 match – last Sunday – and he only made his List A debut on Thursday. As in, 24 hours before this Hundred match at Edgbaston.But here he is, appearing in a tournament that was billed as ‘the best v the best’ and playing a match-defining hand, at that. His 24 from 15 balls might not, at first glance, look especially impressive. But it came with the match in the balance, in front of the sort of crowd he had never experienced, and he finished it undefeated after producing some strokes that had you jerking forward in your seat. If you could buy shares in cricketers…Let’s talk about those shots first. It was a scoop for six over deep third that first grabbed the attention. It was pretty much a length ball from the seamer Blake Cullen. A generation ago, a player might have tried to run it past the keeper. Or they might have tried to give themselves some room to flog it through the off-side. But it’s hard to hit sixes from either of those options. And the scoop is something of a speciality for Benjamin. He got off the mark with the stroke in a warm-up game a few days ago. Zak Crawley later said it was the one thing the London Spirit side knew about him as a batter: he could scoop.A couple of balls later, Cullen dropped short. As if to try the young pretender with the bouncer. It was a decent one, too. Head height. Sharp. It landed in the third row of the stands at square leg. Benjamin can hook and scoop.The next shot only went for four. But it might have been the best of the lot. Chris Wood is a vastly experienced T20 bowler. And his wide yorker seemed to be directed pretty much perfectly. But somehow Benjamin didn’t just connect, he did so with such power that the ball sped past mid-off. It left Birmingham needing only one more run to draw level with Spirit’s total. Benjamin can scoop and hook and drive.