KENT'S former county cricket captain Mark Benson has virtually completed a meteoric rise through the umpiring ranks after accepting an invitation to join the International Cricket Council’s supplementary elite list of officials.

Benson, now 45, retired from county cricket in 1997 following radical knee surgery and after 292 first-class matches, including one Test cap for England against the 1986 Indians in Birmingham.

He was appointed to the ECB’s domestic first-class panel in March 2000, replacing the late Chris Balderstone, and having spent two seasons on the reserve list.

Benson, who now lives in Westbere, near Canterbury, takes up his two-year contract in April when he travels to Bangladesh to stand in the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

The former left-handed opener said: "I have been invited onto the ICC’s supplementary list, which means I will be third umpire for Tests and one-day internationals.

“I guess you’d say a month in Bangladesh is a baptism of fire, but it is a step in the right direction as far as an umpiring career goes and I’m very much looking forward to it.

“I’ll miss my bridge and golf of course, but looking on the bright side, at least I’ll lose some weight!”