BATTING COACH

Neil McKenzie appointed South Africa's batting coach

Last updated on Thursday, 18 February, 2016, 04:23 PM

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Neil McKenzie recently played for the Virgo Super Kings in the Masters Champions League. © Getty

Neil McKenzie, the former South Africa batsman, has been appointed as batting coach for the upcoming Twenty20 International (T20I) series against England and Australia and the ICC World T20 in India next month.

"Neil McKenzie joins us, it's great to have him on board. It's been something that we have been trying to do for a long time. We have explored a few options and finally one guy has committed to us, we are ecstatic that Neil will be joining us," Russell Domingo, South African head coach, was quoted as saying in an official release on Wednesday (February 17).

"Neil will work with us until the end of the T20 World Cup. Things will be assessed from there, it's the end of the cricket season, and we will look at things going forward. He has played a lot of Test, ODI and T20 cricket both locally and overseas," Domingo added.

McKenzie, 40, has featured in 58 Tests, 64 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and 155 domestic T20s and was part of the Virgo Super Kings in the recently-concluded opening season of the Master Champions League in Dubai.

"The main thing with Neil will be the relationship he develops with players, as a coach, that is the most important ingredient. Being able to work with people and to get people to understand and listen to ideas that you might have of a particular skill. Some guys might have all of the knowledge but often their way of getting it across might not be the best way, that's the most important thing and I think he will be good at that."

McKenzie, who represented South Africa for nine years between 2000 and 2009, hopes to bring his experience to the table and make a difference to the South African batsmen ahead of big tournaments. 

"It's a tremendous honour to be aiding in the batting side of things. It's nice to be back in the setup, I haven't been here since 2009. It's a good bunch of exciting players and I'm really keen to get started working with all the professionals and to hopefully try and make a difference for South Africa,"McKenzie said after his appointment.