While he got off to an unsteady start as captain, with Natal being heavily defeated by Border in his first game at the helm, he later recovered and led the team to win both the four-day and one-day domestic competitions.

Benkenstein had represented his country many times as a junior, including a stint as captain of the South African Schools side, and in the under-19 development team.

Benkenstein's senior ODI debut for South Africa came against England at Dhaka in 1998/99, when the teams were playing in the quarter-final of the Wills International Cup.

Despite some useful contributions, including 69 against the West Indies at Cape Town in 1998[3] and 3/5 against Kenya in the 2002/03 ICC Champions Trophy tournament,[4] he never managed to establish himself as a permanent member of the team.

[13] Benkenstein was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2009, based on his work with Durham in the English county championship.