Sri Lanka hires South Africa batter Neil McKenzie as consultant coach

The former right-handed batter will join the team between November 13 and 21, ahead of the first Test in Durban.

 McKenzie  who played 58 Test matches between 2000 and 2009, racked up over 3253 runs for South Africa. He also aggregated nearly 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.

Famously, he is one-half of the highest-ever opening partnership in Test history, sharing a 415-run stand with Graeme Smith against Bangladesh in 2008.

Speaking on his appointment, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket Ashley De Silva said, “McKenzie will bring in vital, in-depth insights about the South African conditions to help Sri Lankan players adapt to the challenge.”

Last year, McKenzie was South Africa’s batting consultant for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series against the West Indies. Earlier this year, he was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru setup in the Indian Premier League as a batting coach.

Sri Lanka will be banking on the former Proteas batter for valuable insights for its final away Test series in the ongoing WTC cycle.