Justin David Ramsay Benson (born 1 March 1967 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

) is a former Irish cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler as well as an occasional wicket-keeper.

Though born in Ireland, he spent the early part of his cricket career playing solely in England, starting by playing minor counties

Minor counties of English cricket

The Minor Counties are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status. The game is administered by the Minor Counties Cricket Association which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board...

 cricket with Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club

Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy.The club is based at The Avenue...

 before moving on to play first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 with Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....

.

He spent five years with Leicestershire from 1988 to 1993 and as his career with them was winding down, he began to play for the country of his birth shortly after they gained associate membership of the International Cricket Council

International Cricket Council

The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...

 in 1993. He made his debut for Ireland

Irish cricket team

The Ireland cricket team is the cricket team representing all of Ireland. Because of political difficulties, the Irish Cricket Union was not elected to the International Cricket Council until 1993, and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007. The Irish Cricket Union is the...

 against Australia

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 in 1993 and was then selected for the 1994 ICC Trophy

1994 ICC Trophy

The ABN-AMRO 1994 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament that took place in Kenya in February/March 1994. It was the qualifying tournament for the 1996 Cricket World Cup. The UAE defeated the host nation Kenya in the final and the Netherlands finished 3rd with all 3 sides qualifing for their first...

.

He carried on playing for Ireland whilst also again playing minor counties cricket for Cambridgeshire, playing in one more ICC Trophy

ICC Trophy

The ICC World Cup Qualifier is an international one-day cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. Any Associate or Affiliate member of the ICC may attempt to qualify for the ICC Trophy by means of a system of regional qualifying events. The test-playing Full...

 in 1997

1997 ICC Trophy

The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March/April 1997. It was the qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Kenya and for the first time Bangladesh and Scotland all Qualified.-First round:...

 as well as the inaugural European Championship

European Cricket Championship

The European Cricket Championship is a group of various tournaments in which national cricket sides throughout Europe compete. The tournament is designed to encourage and develop the best players in countries where cricket is not a major sport and Europe's only Test cricket playing country,...

 in 1996. His last match came against the MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 at Lord's

Lord's Cricket Ground

Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

in August 1997 at which point he had represented Ireland 59 times. He was captain in all his games in 1996 and 1997.