Personal satisfaction for Benn in Australia

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn has declared himself satisfied with his personal accomplishments but frustrated that the Windies came up empty-handed on the just-concluded Australia tour.

Benn, 28, was one of the leading bowlers in the series.

He told CMC Sport on his arrival home at the Grantley Adams International Airport Tuesday afternoon that he was pleased with his effort although the team fell short of their objectives.

“I was very happy with the way how my game went but obviously as a team we wanted to do better, we wanted at least a draw in the series but that didn’t happen,” Benn said.

“Australia was good for me, personally,” he said.

With 11 wickets at 37.09 runs apiece, Benn shared top wicket-taker honours for the West Indies with Dwayne Bravo and produced the best economy rate of 2.66 runs per over.

He produced a personal series best haul of five for 155 off 53 overs with eight maidens in Australia’s first innings of the drawn second Test in Adelaide.

The 6-foot-7-inch tall Barbadian also displayed some of his batting qualities when he smashed an entertaining 33 off 28 balls, laced with two fours and two sixes, as West Indies threatened a stunning upset win in the last Test match at Perth.

The last pair Gavin Tonge (23 not out) and Kemar Roach (17) staged a brave 44-run stand but Australia went on to win the match by 35 runs and Benn felt disappointed they were not able to snatch a victory to square the series.

“We were very positive … you saw how we batted the last couple of days, we were very positive,” Benn said.

“We wanted to win that Test match to level the series. Obviously the Frank Worrell Trophy would have (already) gone to Australia but we wanted to come back home knowing that we at least levelled the series.

“We lost some vital wickets at some crucial times, that put us back,” he added.

Benn, in spite of a two-match ban for the next two One Day International (ODI) matches, also said he is looking forward to returning to Australia for a series of five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals in February.

Benn was charged with a Level 2 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for his mid-pitch altercation with Australians Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson during the third Test.