McKenzie recalled in SA
squad shake up
Trevor Chesterfield
- 27 January 2000
Cape Town - Having sent Neil McKenzie home on Monday as
part of the exercise to get rid of
excess baggage for the Newlands game against England,
South Africa's selectors did the
honest thing yesterday by recalling him for the rest of
the triangular limited overs series.
It was a decision which creased the 24-year-old Northerns
captain's features with a grin as he came up with that
famous chestnut of "It is an honour to represent my
country" when asked for a comment.
That he should have been in the squad all along possibly
escaped the attention of most of
Rushdie Magiet's national panel, who realising they
needed someone to fill the gap left by Daryll Cullinan's
No4 spot only a week ago pulled him in as cover for Jonty
Rhodes and Dale
Benkenstein.
Now he has been drafted into a reshaped squad which
contains no Allan Donald but they have finally decided to
recall Steve Elworthy as a replacement for the injured
David Terbrugge, while Gary Kirsten's decision "to
take a break" allows them to bring in Louis Koen.
Apart from the possible absence of Donald no one can
really quibble about the changes in the
squad although there are those who would question the
selection of the Boland captain, Koen. Yet a glance at
his form in the SuperSport Series, where he has scored
513 runs at an average of above 40.
Elworthy has also being pulling his weight as a bowler
and his non-selection last week came as a surprise. After
all 32 A Section wickets at 19.43 is worth checking out
and little has changed from a week ago when the first
squad was announced. On that occasion Magiet escaped
without a hint of a question.
Yesterday a lot of more was said about Kirsten needing to
"take a break", as he needed "to
mentally rearrange my game". Is says much for the
Kirsten honesty that he has acknowledged he is not in
tune with his talent and playing ability.
Terbrugge's stress fracture was the reason he did not
fire the way he can and 12 months after he had an
operation to his right heel he is again laid up and, from
all accounts, out of the India tour. Just the sort of bad
luck which affected Fanie de Villiers in his career.
Elworthy, with his "officer and a gentleman"
image, will welcome the chance to bowl again for
South Africa. Why he was over looked for the Millennium
Series against England was also a
mystery.
McKenzie though, is keen to step into the side and face
the "challenge of playing for South
Africa" in the remaining three matches. While he
would prefer to bat at three, where he has
scored his runs for Northerns, batting at four is also
"as good a choice as any" in the side.
"I found batting at three and being captain giving
me the sort of responsibility I enjoy," he said
yesterday. "I also found that our coach, Peter
Kirsten, allowed me to go out and play my own game.
"His own experience and insight into batting at
three also helped me a lot," McKenzie admitted.
"Right now though, I am not looking too far ahead.
Playing in the remainder of the series is a bonus and I'm
going to do what I can to return the confidence the
selectors have place in me."
He felt that the challenge of facing up to world-class
bowlers such as Darren Gough and
Andrew Caddick would make for an interesting challenge as
he had learnt much from facing
them in the four innings where he scored three big half
centuries.
"What I have to do is be more patient when I am
batting against them. For me that is the key to scoring
runs," he added.
The squad is: Hansie Cronje (capt), Nicky Boje, Mark
Boucher, Steve Elworthy, Herschelle
Gibbs, Mornantau Hayward, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener,
Louis Koen, Neil McKenzie, Shaun
Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Pieter Strydom, Henry Williams.
Dewald Pretorius (Free State) and
Garnet Kruger (Eastern Province) are to travel with the
team.