Cute, weird and toilet-trained
By TREVOR MARSHALLSEA, PERTH - Saturday 8 December 2001

Regardless of what he does with a cricket bat, South African Neil McKenzie has come to
Australia with a quality that will assure him the automatic support of half the population.

It's not just the good looks to go with the silky batting that have made the 26-year-old from
Transvaal a favourite with female fans, but also a habit that, while driving teammates to
distraction, would win him kudos in one of domesticity's most timeless of tests.

He puts the toilet seat down. Not just regularly, but routinely. Ritualistically in fact.

He also keeps his shoes together, and ensures a peculiar neatness all around him to the point where cricket bats have been known to be taped to ceilings.

If you're thinking we've got the latest addition to the long list of cricketing weirdos, then
you're probably right. Steve Waugh's red handkerchief has got nothing on this, a list of habits that give McKenzie a record for being the most superstitious player in the world.

The origins of some are hazy, such as where he got the idea that all toilet seats in the
dressing room had to be down when he went out to bat.

But the tradition stuck, like several other parts of the bizarre baggage McKenzie has carried through his upward spiral in first-class and Test cricket.

The confessed lucky-charm addict has worked recently to kick the habit. Though he would still not quite get a pass mark from Superstitious Anonymous, he feels - and his records suggest - his efforts are working, with McKenzie developing this year into one of the form batsmen in the South African side.

"I used to be quite superstitious but I think it was taking too much focus off my play actually, on and off the field. But I do like things to be neat and tidy," said McKenzie, who may also be seen habitually walking away from the wicket between balls.

"We had a joke at Transvaal that if you left early without staying for a beer with the guys
then the next day when you got there all your kit would be plastered on the walls and ceiling.

"I was the instigator, but one day they got me back - my bat was strapped to the wall. I took it down and got a hundred that game. So that became a bit of a superstition."

McKenzie takes some humorous pride in his standing as cricket's grand wizard of
jiggery-pokery, and jokingly insists there is a right and a wrong way.

For him, young Virender Sehwag was not just controversial for being suspended in what led to South Africa's recent "non-Test" against India, but also for copying Waugh's famous talisman.

"I saw Sehwag with a red handkerchief in his pocket," he said before hamming it up.

"I don't think you can copy too many guys. I think you like to be individualistic, you know - do your own thing. But I've cut down now and I'm just trying to keep it very simple."

Simplicity has been McKenzie's buzzword these past 16 months, in which he has fought back
from a horror debut series in Sri Lanka to establish himself as a key figure in a side whose
batting order - and psyche - had been holed by the banning of Hansie Cronje.

Coming into the side in the new role of opener on that tour of Sri Lanka as Herschelle Gibbs
served his six-month suspension for collusion with Cronje, McKenzie went through the 1-1
drawn series with a scorecard of 11, 25, 0, 1, 0 and 17.

Gibbs' return has allowed McKenzie to return to the middle order and he has been a feature in South Africa's series wins over the West Indies, Zimbabwe and India, making 523 runs in nine
Tests.

"I didn't have a great start to Test cricket in Sri Lanka," he said. "You couldn't go too much lower. I wasn't doing too well.

"Not only was I opening the innings, it was my first Test series, so I was looking to do things differently instead of keeping things simple.

"I just thought 'Test match cricket', instead of playing my normal game, backing my ability and treating every ball on its merits. I was trying too hard. You've got to back yourself that you've put in the hours and the work and that should stand you in good stead."

McKenzie, who now has two centuries from 18 Tests with an improving average of 36.31, is grateful for his treatment from South African management.

"They just said: 'Listen, we've picked you to do a job, we think you're good enough to do a
job, now just go out there and relax'," he said.

"I'm keeping it simple now and it's all right so far. Things have run nicely in the last 14 to 16 months, so let's hope it continues."

McKenzie did not play a Test under Cronje, but was with him in the South African set-up for four months before Cronje was banned from the game.

With that limited experience he feels ill-equipped to venture his opinions on the biggest and blackest name in South African sporting history, but can speak with authority on the mood in
the touring side, which can topple Australia from the world No.1 ranking with a win or a draw in their three-Test series starting on Friday in Adelaide.

"There's not much talk about the past. It's a long time ago, and we're just out here to make a living, enjoy a game which we love playing and just be around each other, which is the main thing. There's no nonsense or underhanded stuff going on.

"What's gone is gone; we've got a new captain, a new side, we've got new goals to attain and new levels to reach.

"To be ranked as the No.1 Test-playing nation would be a great thing for us. We want to
achieve in both one-dayers and Test matches. You play sport obviously not to come second,
you play sport to win it."

(Thanks Caite for the article)