Neil Douglas McKenzie (born 24 November 1975) is a South African former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played all three forms of the game. He was a right-handed opening batsman who played for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, making his first appearance in 2000. He is currently the high performance batting coach of

. He played for the

Highveld Lions DP World Lions is a professional cricket team in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The home venue is the DP World Wanderers Stadium. The team plays in the CSA 4-Day Series first class cricket competition as well as in the Momentum 1 Day Cup, CSA Pro ...

in South African domestic cricket and has also played county cricket for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in January 2016.

Early and personal life

Educated at King Edward VII School, McKenzie was a promising junior cricketer, captaining the South African Schools and Under-19 sides. McKenzie is married to South African model Kerry McGregor. His sister,

Megan Megan is a Welsh feminine given name, originally a diminutive form of Margaret. Margaret is from the Greek μαργαρίτης (''margarítēs''), Latin ''margarīta'', "pearl". Megan is one of the most popular Welsh-language names for women in ...

, is also a leading model in South Africa.

Domestic career

With better form in international arena, a further development as a result of his recall was that Somerset announced that it was unlikely that McKenzie would return to the club for the 2008 season, having played in 2007 as a Kolpak player. It was subsequently announced that he would play part of the 2008 season for

as an overseas player. In January 2010, McKenzie joined English county side

as a Kolpak player for the

2010 County Championship The 2010 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 111th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in ...

. On 5 August 2011 McKenzie hit his career best first-class score of 237 in a County Championship match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Not only did he make his highest score, but during his innings a number of records fell. Himself and

Michael Carberry Michael Alexander Carberry (born 29 September 1980) is an English former professional cricketer who most recently played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Carberry is a left-handed opening batsman who bowls occasional right-arm off break ...

set a new Hampshire record for the 3rd wicket in first-class cricket, setting a partnership of 523 runs to surpass the previous best partnership for the 3rd wicket, which was set by

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

and

Phil Mead Charles Phillip Mead (9 March 1887 – 26 March 1958) was an English first-class cricketer. He played as a left-handed batsman for Hampshire and England between 1905 and 1936. He was born at 10 Ashton Buildings (since pulled down), second elde ...

in 1927. The partnership with Carberry was also the highest for any wicket for Hampshire, surpassing the 411 set by

Robert Poore Robert Montagu Poore (20 March 1866 – 14 July 1938) was a cricketer and British army officer who, whilst serving in South Africa in 1896, played in three Test matches for the South African cricket team. Much of his cricket was played when he ...

and

Teddy Wynyard Edward George Wynyard (1 April 1861 – 30 October 1936) was a British Army officer and an English cricketer who played in three Tests from 1896 to 1906. He captained Hampshire County Cricket Club between 1896 and 1899. Wynyard was also a s ...

in 1899. Their partnership was the 11th time in first-class cricket that a partnership has passed 500 runs, currently ranks 9th on the all-time list.

International career

His Test debut came as an opening batsman in a tour of Sri Lanka but like his father Kevin McKenzie he soon cemented his place in the South African middle order before returning to the side as an opener later in his career. McKenzie made his maiden Test hundred against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2000–01. Another century soon came, against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

at Supersport Park but it would be his last for seven years. From there on in he could not convert his twelve 50s into hundreds although he came close when he was run out by

Damien Martyn Damien Richard Martyn (born 21 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player from 1999 to 20 ...

for 99. After a series of low scores was dropped from the side. After showing excellent form in domestic cricket, and due to successive poor performances by opener

Herschelle Gibbs Herschelle Herman Gibbs (born 23 February 1974) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for fourteen years. A right-handed batsman, mostly opened the batting, Gibbs became the first player to hi ...

, he was recalled to the South African Test squad three and a half years later for the second Test against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

at Newlands. Opening the innings, McKenzie scored 23 before a torn calf muscle meant he was unable to bat in the second innings and would miss the third Test of the series. During a test against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

begun on 29 February 2008, McKenzie was involved in a world record 1st wicket partnership of 415 with

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

, McKenzie registering a career best 226. He continued his form in the next Test against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

when he registered scores of 94 and 155 not out. In the first Test against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at Lord's in July 2008, McKenzie batted for over nine hours in a 447-ball innings of 138 to help his side save the match having been asked to

follow-on In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...

on the third day.''Hashim Amla Century Guides South Africa To Safety''
Cricket World retrieved 16 July 2008 Neilmckenziescg

During 2008, McKenzie became one of only twelve players to score more than 1000 test runs in the calendar year. The year, however, ended in disappointing fashion as he was shown to be out of form in series against

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. That then led to him being dropped from the test squad, after the second test. He played his first ODI since 2003 against

and made a hard-fought 63 in the first ODI, while also playing his part in a successful 4–1 series win, which made

the number 1 ranked ODI team in the world. With

fit again, McKenzie lost his place in the next ODI squad. He was however named as one of five cricketers of the year by

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

, a prestigious award, dating back more than 125 years, for his form in the away series in England.

International centuries

Test centuries

ODI centuries

International awards

One Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

References

External links

Cricinfo player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Neil 1975 births Alumni of King Edward VII School (Johannesburg) Barbados Royals cricketers Cricketers from Johannesburg Durham cricketers Gauteng cricketers Hampshire cricketers Lions cricketers Living people Northerns cricketers Somerset cricketers South African cricket coaches South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year