Profiles / Andrew Hughes / 17 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Mocked for his never-ending superstitions, dropped during the introduction of the quota system in the Test team and asked to open after being a middle-order batsman throughout most of his career, Neil McKenzie has overcome many obstacles, says Andrew Hughes.

Dour is back. Lest we forget what Test cricket is about amidst all the hoopla of Twenty20, the South Africans are here to keep our feet on the ground. Test cricket isn't anything to do with extravagant shot-making, showboating or punching gloves. It's about hard bloody graft. It's about block, block, leave, leave, block, nudge. It's about two runs an over, three if you're feeling reckless. That's the version of the game we grew up on.

And the current group of South African batsmen warming up in Western Australia are the hardiest bunch of stony-faced stonewallers ever to leave the Cape. I imagine they've spent the last few weeks preparing by sleeping on bare floors and eating nothing but biltong and rainwater. They were an immovable object for Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and India. Then they ground England into the dust this summer. Now they face their biggest test.

The newest of the batsmen and the last piece in the jigsaw for South Africa is Neil McKenzie, the short, stocky blocker from Jo'burg. South African cricketer of the year in 2000, he was a swashbuckling middle-order bat for three years before he endured a slight dip in form against New Zealand. At the very moment when a new selection panel began to introduce a quota system to get more black players into the national team, it was not a good time to be a white batsman out of form.

But Mckenzie did not lose hope, nor did he flee the land of his birth on the good ship Kolpack. He applied himself ever more strictly to the process of batting. He got married, had children and let go of some of his accumulated superstitions (my favourite being the story that he used to tuck his bat up in bed every night). His application garnered him an average of over 40 in every domestic season following his dropping from the national team.

Last winter, as the selectors scratched around for replacements for the chronically out of form Herschelle Gibbs, McKenzie's former schoolfriend Graeme Smith and coach Micky Arthur persistently put his name forward and finally, the call came. Problem was, the vacancy was for an opener. With typical adaptability, he embraced the role and clung on in there even when the President of Cricket South Africa Norman Arendse wanted to bring back Gibbs. Huge tons in Bangladesh and India sealed his position.

Now McKenzie won't thrill you like Sehwag. He bats in an old fashioned style, like a 1930s player, indeed, if you squint and try to imagine a baggy green cap atop his head rather than a helmet, you might mistake him for Don Bradman. There's something about the slightly open stance, the slightly raised bat, the checked shots and in particular, the way that he rolls his wrists when playing the pull that recalls the master. His batting is economical, efficient, neat and compact. He is the very definition of businesslike, and has an unbending determination to prove himself at the highest level after his years of exile.

It was said that his main weakness was against high class spin, but the way he handled Harbhajan and Kumble in their own backyard earlier this year put that argument to bed. He has formed a partnership with Graeme Smith that is nicely balanced. He is the obdurate accumulator, whilst Smith brings the pain with those bludgeoning leg-side swipes.

McKenzie is not a bad bet to finish as South Africa's top runscorer in the First Test, which starts on Wednesday. In six previous matches against Australia, during his first spell of Test cricket, he averaged a little over 37 and that was in the days of Warne and McGrath. You should be able to back him at around the [6.0] mark.

His contribution will be crucial in getting the South Africans off to a flying start at Perth. After day one Australia are 341-9 courtesy of half-centuries by Katich, Clarke and Symonds. The hosts trade at [1.87] with McKenzie's South Africa priced up at [4.0] and the draw available at [4.4]. How the Proteas could do with another resilient century from their little opener if they are to get off to a winning start in this Test series...