Web Exclusives - The cutting-room floor
Source: SASI December 2001 issue.

There's never a dull moment when the SA Sports Illustrated team are required to orchestrate a half-day interview and photo shoot. Planning and any form of cohesion have never been a strong point of the SASI creative team - but they always hit their mark ... For the December issue of SA Sports Illustrated it was decided that SA cricketer Neil McKenzie would adorn the cover with his SASI Swimwear model sister Megan. McKenzie has been a vital cog in the test and one-day team of late, while his sister, it was decided, would add that extra bit of 'sizzle' to the magazine.

As usual, the shoot got off to a slow start. We were hoping that we could get Neil in his cricket kit but that had already been shipped off to the next one-day venue.

A quick phone call to (Cape Town based) Gary Kirsten, a swift drive-bye and pick-up by lackey designer Grant Whitfield and we were in business.

McKenzie, at first, was a bit awkward in front of the prying lens, but as SASI senior designer Scott McKenzie says, it takes a while for our sporting heroes to relax behind the camera. "It normally takes a bit longer for sports stars to really feel relaxed in front of the camera because it is not their profession to be there fawning about for the clickers. Strangely enough, though, it always seems to be the last picture of the day that we end up using for the cover ... only because the guys we are shooting have relaxed a bit."

Miss McKenzie was all at ease in front of the photographer and probably eased Neil through the shoot with a few helpful tips here and there. At the end of the day it was a great shoot, probably the best of the year.

"The shoot was a huge success," gushes McKenzie (SASI's designer Scott, not Neil), "Neil and Megan were very co-operative and handled the shoot very professionally. It's definitely one of our hottest covers to date. It was difficult to choose what image we wanted because there were so many to choose from ... but, in the end, we made the right choice!

We always do at SASI!