Benjamin James Ackland is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 born Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 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. Ackland is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off break

Off break

Off break is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is the attacking delivery of an off spin bowler. Off breaks are known as off spinners....

. He was born in Nuneaton

Nuneaton

Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...

, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

 and educated at Queen's College, Taunton

Queen's College, Taunton

Queen's College is a co-educational independent school located in Taunton, the county town of Somerset, England. It is a day/boarding school for children aged 2–18. The school incorporates Nursery, Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior schools. The current headmaster of the Senior School is Chris Alcock...

.

Ackland made his debut for Ireland Under-19s in a Youth One Day International against England Under-19s in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. He made six appearances in that competition and also played for Ireland Under-19s in 2010 Under-19 World Cup, making five appearances in that competition.

Later in 2010, while studying for his degree in Sports Science & Coaching at Anglia Ruskin University

Anglia Ruskin University

Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...

, Ackland made his first-class

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...

 debut for Cambridge MCCU against 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 made a further appearance that season against Sussex

Sussex County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

. In the 2011 season

2011 English cricket season

The 2011 English cricket season began on 2 April with a round of university matches, and will continue until the final of the Clydesdale Bank 40 on 17 September. Three major domestic competitions are contested: the 2011 County Championship, the 2011 Clydesdale Bank 40 and the 2011 Friends Life t20...

, he made three further first-class appearances for the team, playing against Essex

Essex County Cricket Club

Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...

, Middlesex

Middlesex County Cricket Club

Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

 and Middlesex

Surrey County Cricket Club

Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

. In his five first-class matches to date, he has scored 293 runs at an average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 of 41.85, with a high score of 74. This score, one of three fifties he made, came against Middlesex.

External links

• Ben Ackland at ESPNcricinfo
• Ben Ackland at CricketArchive
  CricketArchive
  CricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...