Lance Klusener

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"Go big or go home" is Lance Klusener's motto, an approach never more clearly demonstrated than when his powerful hitting earned him the player of the tournament award at the 1999 World Cup. It wasn't always the case, though, for "Zulu", who was told at school to concentrate on his batting because he wasn't big enough to become a bowler. He went off, grew up a little, beefed up a tad and broke into first-class cricket with Natal as an aggressive fast bowler who could take care of himself with the bat down the order. Indeed, it was as a bowler (dislodging Fanie de Villiers from the side), that Klusener made his Test debut at Eden Gardens in 1996. It wasn't the most auspicious of starts as Mohammad Azharuddin pasted him all over the ground in the first innings, but with Allan Donald injured, Klusener took the new ball in the second innings and claimed eight for 64 as South Africa stormed to victory. Three Tests later, Klusener took a 100-ball hundred off India at Newlands. Enjoy it while you can, advised Clive Rice, it might not happen again as long as you play. Klusener, though, has gone to fulfill much of this early promise. When an ankle injury forced him out of South Africa's 1998 tour of England, he returned home to work on his batting. In contrast to most batsmen, however, Klusener practised hitting the bad ball and this approach paid off at the World Cup as time and again he hit South Africa out of trouble. He is more than a slogger, though, as he demonstrated with 174 in the second Test against England last summer. As a result of the injury, he lost a little of his zip as a bowler, but he has learned greater variation and is still a key member of the South African attack. South Africa's biggest problem with Klusener now is how and where exactly to use him. Up the order? In the middle? During the last 15 overs? This has still not been satisfactorily resolved. Then again, it's a dilemma many countries would love to have.