Notts New Man: Benjamin Howell in Depth

 

c/o MAG

Benjamin Alexander Cameron Howell

 

Benny Howell, a right-hand bat and right-arm medium pacer, was born on 5th October 1988 in Bordeaux, France. A dual-passport holder with Australian and British heritage, he was educated at The Oratory School in Oxfordshire.

Howell suffers from ADHD. He was somewhat of an unruly child with sport proving to be his escape mechanism. His father Jonathan, a real tennis professional, played for Warwickshire Seconds in 1978. Benny's brother Nick is also a real tennis player, ranked number three in the World he won the French Open in 2023.

Howell, who first played cricket for Stoke Row CC, appeared in age group cricket for Berkshire. He enrolled into the Hampshire Cricket Academy and first played for Hampshire Second XI in 2005.

He made his Hampshire first team debut on 17th August 2010, opening the batting in a Clydesdale Bank 40 game versus Leicestershire at the Rose Bowl.

Hampshire were granted a place in the 2011 Caribbean Twenty20. It was in this tournament that Howell made his T20 debut in Hampshire's group match against Canada. He played all of Hampshire's six fixtures in the tournament, including the final against Trinidad and Tobago, which Hampshire lost by 36 runs. In May that year he scored his first Hampshire and only List A ton (122) versus Surrey at Whitgift School in a 40-over Clydesdale contest. Very much more of a batter in early years, Howell finished the season as Hampshire’s leading scorer in the competition with 340 runs @56.66. Two days after his ton, he made his first-class debut versus Lancashire at the Rose Bowl, his only championship appearance in 2011.

 

Seeking more red ball opportunities he joined Gloucestershire for the 2012 season. He was a regular in four-day cricket in his first four seasons at Bristol, but became increasingly a white ball specialist. He helped Gloucestershire win the Royal London Cup in 2015 beating Surrey by seven runs in the Lord’s final and finished the Blast as the competition's leading wicket-taker the following summer.

 

Howell adapted bowling techniques borrowed from baseball pitchers. He primarily bowls knuckleballs and cutters. He claims to have 50 different varieties of slower ball.

 

He first dipped his toe into franchise cricket by signing up for Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League in 2016. He has subsequently appeared for Rangpur Raiders, Chattogram Challengers and Sylhet Strikers in the same competition. He has also played in the CPL (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots), ILT20 (Desert Vipers), LPL (Colombo Stars), PSL (Peshawar Zalmi) and Big Bash (Melbourne Renegades), as well as becoming a regular for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred. He has played 41 Hundred matches taking 40 wickets @20.05, only Tymal Mills (51), Adil Rashid (45) and Sam Curran (45) have taken more in the competition. But the closest he came to England recognition was playing a one-day game for England Lions at the age of 33 against South Africa at New Road in 2022. He rejoined Hampshire on a 3-year contract at the end of that season.

 

Howell, who has not played in first-class cricket since the 2019 season, has two first-class tons. His highest first-class score is 163 for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan at Cardiff in 2017. His best first-class bowling (5-57) was for Gloucestershire against Leicestershire at Grace Road in 2013. Howell’s last List A game was in 2022 and surprisingly he has never took four wickets in an innings in that format. His best figures are the 3-37 he took in the Royal London semi-final against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2015. Howell has never played against Notts in any of the three formats in his 16-season county career.

 

He has played 266 T20 matches with a batting best of 62* which he has achieved on two occasions both in 2024 namely Sylhet Strikers versus Comilla Victorians at Chittagong and Hampshire versus Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl. His best T20 bowling figures occurred during his Gloucestershire days taking 5-18 versus Glamorgan at Cheltenham College in 2019. Howell is seventh in the list of leading wicket-takers for the Blast having taken 170 wickets @21.60 in 163 appearances. Danny Briggs tops the list with 268 wickets with Samit Patel second with 230.

 

His career record is given below:

 

	M		I		NO		RUNS		HS		AV’GE		CT		100		50
First-Class	86		136		13		3378		163		27.46		52		2		18
List A	87		73		14		2090		122		35.42		29		1		13
Twenty/20	266		211		66		3247		62*		22.39		112		-		9
		OVERS		M		RUNS		W		AV’GE		ARPO		BPW		BB		5wI
First-Class		1075.5		237		3222		96		33.56		2.99		67.23		5-57		1
List A		517.1		8		2698		79		34.15		5.21		39.27		3-37		-
Twenty/20		798.1		2		5897		255		23.12		7.38		18.78		5-18		1

 

In depth article on Howell, written seven years ago, can be found at  https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/jarrod-kimber-on-benny-howell-gloucestershire-s-magical-mystery-man-1153089