2026-05-03 13:34:47
Ben McKinney believes his height is an advantage to his game.
The Durham batsman stands 6ft 7in and he feels there are advantages to his lofty frame, though he regrets not working on his bowling more.
He told The Times Sport: “As a tall player, I can hit down the ground, I can hit on the up when the pitch allows you to.
“I like batting with smaller openers, I batted with Tom Haines [the 5ft 11in Sussex batsman] for the [England] Lions in the winter, and you can mix and match.
“I’m not going to complain about being a bit taller, it’s worked OK.
“But I should probably have bowled some seamers as well.”
In his teens, Ben, now 21, was pursuing cricket with Durham and also football with Sunderland, but his major growth spurt impacted more on his ball skills than his eventual profession.
He said: “When I was 14 to 15, I reckon I was about 5ft 11in. By the time I was 16, I was 6ft 6in.
“It was basically a year when I was having a big spurt. I was playing football, but I literally didn’t kick a ball that year because both my hips were done in, just from growing. I was like Bambi on ice.”
“I was playing as a No10 at that stage, a CAM [central attacking midfielder].
“Then I became a little bit slower and quite a bit taller, so I ended up playing more CDM [defensive midfield] or centre back. But I’d always hated defending, so that was just horrible.”
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