Benjamin (Ben) Gilbert Brocklehurst (18 February 1922 – 17 June 2007) was an English first-class cricketer and publisher.
A right-handed batsman, he represented Somerset County Cricket Club in 64 first-class matches between 1952 and 1954. He captained Somerset in 1953 and 1954, and he was one of the last amateur captains in county cricket. His captaincy did not change the fortunes of the Somerset team: they came bottom in the County Championship in the year before he was appointed, and remained bottom in both of his years in charge, losing 37 of the 56 games they played under his leadership.
On a personal level, he scored1,671 runs in 116 innings in first-class cricket, at a batting average of 15.61. Nevertheless, he also played cricket for a number of clubs, including the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), I Zingari, and Free Foresters.
Upon retirement from cricket and farming he turned to publishing, first working on Country Life. He joined the publishing company Mercury House, and was involved in the purchase of the cricket magazine The Cricketer. He bought the magazine from his employer in 1972 and merged it with the magazine with Playfair Cricket Monthly in 1973, where it thrived. The Cricketer went online in 1996 and formed a partnership with Cricinfo in 1997. It was bought by Sir Paul Getty in 2003 and amalgamated with Wisden Cricket Monthly to form The Wisden Cricketer.
Ben died in July 2007 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
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