Neil McKenzie joins South Africa for another assisting stint

What's the story?

Former South Africa middle-order batsman Neil McKenzie has returned as a member of the coaching staff of the national side on the eve of the ongoing third Test between South Africa and India at Johannesburg. At his appearance during a nets session by the hosts, captain Faf du Plessis said, "He is just assisting. His role going forward will probably be to look at the next tier of batsmen coming through."

In case you didn't know..

McKenzie, 42, had been a part of the coaching set-up earlier as well when after just nine days post his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2016, he was appointed as South Africa's batting assistant, a stint which included the ICC World T20 that year.

In 2008, he and the then South Africa captain Graeme Smith had put on a record first wicket partnership of 415 against Bangladesh at Chittagong. While he had scored 226 and was the second wicket to fall, Smith's dismissal on 232 had ended the massive association.

The heart of the matter

The appointment of new head coach Ottis Gibson meant he brought in his own team to assist him, which inevitably signalled the exit of McKenzie from the South Africa dressing room in November 2017. However, the latter was observed providing throwdowns to the out of form Quinton de Kock and tips to Andile Pehlukwayo on being called up by his replacement Dale Benkenstein.

“It says a lot about Dale that he’s happy to bring in guys who were in his role before him. The two of them get on really well and I think it’s a great thing for Cricket South Africa [CSA],” du Plessis said of McKenzie's return. He also informed that the decision to rope in McKenzie was taken before the first Test of the series against India, indicating that it was not especially to help de Kock that he was summoned.

What's next?

Once the Test series gets over, South Africa host India for the limited-overs leg of the tour which includes 6 ODIs and 3 T20s.

Author's Take

Although it can be agreed that the departure of McKenzie from the coaching staff was surprising considering his experience at the international level as the first-class level, it was also equally surprising to see his sudden comeback, especially with South Africa already having a batting coach in Benkenstein.