da spicy bet： Centurion: It was not quite the provincial captaincy debut NeilMcKenzie had in mind yesterday when he took over as Northerns newleader
Trevor Chesterfield04-Dec-1999Centurion: It was not quite the provincial captaincy debut NeilMcKenzie had in mind yesterday when he took over as Northerns newleader.What we had was a belly landing after attempting to scramble what wasdodgy single and then looking up at umpire Cyril Mitchley signallinghe had been run out. The result was McKenzie being one of fourNortherns wickets to fall in a truncated first session as they putonly 55 runs on the board.Not at all a great start to the Super Eights in the SuperSport Seriesas the tougher part of the first-class domestic programme began athome on a decidedly damp, chilly afternoon more in keeping withEngland in May than sunny South Africa in December.McKenzie had been looking good too, and from all accounts, woulddecided to bat first anyway had he won the toss. Boland?s skipperLouis Koen got the call right instead and decided, with so much cloudcover around and a touch of moisture on the pitch, the best option wasto bowl first.Whether it was because Koen did not quite trust his side batting firstin such conditions against Steve Elworthy, Greg Smith and DaveTownsend is unclear, but apart from Martin van Jaarsveld who receivedwhat is described as a “good nut” in the fast bowling trade,Northerns must admit they made a hash of it.No doubt Koen wanted to show his bowlers how he supported them andbirthday boy Charl Willoughby gave as good an impression as anyone ofhow to use the conditions and move the ball around. There was a goodbit of swing and enough sideways movement to make Shaun Pollock tolick his lips in anticipation of a five-wicket haul.Anyone with figures of 7.5-5-6-2 should smile. About the only aspectof the game which did not play along with Willoughbys quest forfurther success was the weather.Rudolf Steyn seemed as though he was carrying on from where he leftoff against Eastern Province in the day/night slogs and an expansiveshot was dragged into his stumps. Johan Myburgh deflected a defensiveprod to Kenny Jackson at first slip and McKenzie, after lookeddecidedly comfortable threw it away with his suicide mission.He was batting nicely too: knew where his off-stump was, knew when toleave the ball alone too and drove comfortably. Organised and lookingto build to his growing reputation before Justin Ontong, from thevicinity of backward point, threw the stumps down one a single motionand which would have brought a touch of appreciation from Jonty Rhodesor Herschelle Gibbs.McKenzies boundary of Henry Williams was a classic drive into thegap square of the wicket; crisp and neatly placed. Gerald Dros alsobatted with confidence and used his reach to good effect making CharlAngeveldt pay for bowling off-line with his direction finder badlymisfiring: five boundaries, four scored by the elegant Dros, was asgood as anything we have seen this season.Watching all this was the coach Peter Kirsten, the man who is notafraid to make the tough choices and for Northerns, with fourvictories needed if they hoped to reach the final, rejigging the sidewas possibly the easiest option.Making them work is up to the players and for that we will have towait and see.