Neil Johnson

Neil Clarkson Johnson (born 24 January 1970) is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer who played 13 Test matches and 48 One Day Internationals between 1998 and 2000.

An all-rounder, he bowled right-arm fast-medium and played in the middle order in test matches as an aggressive left-handed batsman.

He usually opened the batting in one-day cricket.

Despite making sporadic appearances for Zimbabwe at international level, he made substantial contributions with both bat and ball in crucial match situations.

In his brief international career, he made an impact as an aggressive opening batsman and also as an attacking fast bowler.

When Zimbabwe gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980, Johnson's father accepted a job as a farming consultant at Howick in Natal, and the family emigrated to South Africa.

Johnson was ten years old at the time.

Johnson continued his education at Howick High School and rose through the ranks as a young schoolboy cricketer, first with the Natal under-12 team, and then later the Natal B team for under-18 players.

He then moved to Grahamstown to pursue his studies at Kingswood College, and opened the bowling alongside Brett Schultz for the Eastern Province schools team.

He later broke into full South Africa schools team in 1988.

He scored a few centuries at high school with the first century coming at the age of 15.

His father was a significant influence, taking him to attend net practice sessions.

He was also coaches as a teenager by Chris Stone, an English professional coach in South Africa.

His talent was later spotted and identified by former international player Kepler Wessels, who helped him win a bursary to the University of Port Elizabeth, where he pursued a BA degree in Industrial Psychology.

He also went onto play for University of Port Elizabeth's first XI and Eastern Province B side.

He also made a few appearances for the full Eastern Province team in the Benson and Hedges Night Series.

After the four years at the university, he was awarded a lucrative professional cricket contract with Natal and he agreed without any hesitation.

Johnson often acknowledged Wessels, stating that his assistance helped him to work on his way to top-flight cricket.

Johnson considered Natal as his adopted home as he played most of his school and domestic cricket there.

He made his first-class debut in the 1989–90 season in the Castle Bowl competition playing for Eastern Province B against the Natal B side.

He was an integral member of arguably Zimbabwe's best ODI side during the late 1990s.

Despite having lot of experience having played in South African domestic competitions, he was never in contention to make it into the South African national team in the 1990s due to the abundance of all-rounders in the South African set-up.

He had a breakthrough 1993–94 season for Natal where his all-round performance against Border, including a century and five wicket-haul, helped him to secure a place in the South Africa A lineup for their tour of Zimbabwe in 1994–95.

He was then approached by Denis Streak of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, who suggested that he return to Zimbabwe with a view to play international cricket for the country.

However, he did not commit himself immediately due to his impending marriage.

His county stint with Leicestershire in 1997 proved his worth as a capable all-rounder.

Johnson's father was a farmer in the Umvukwes (now Mvurwi) district in the north of Mashonaland.

He began his primary education at the Umvukwes Primary School, where he rose to prominence at age seven after winning a selection for the school's colts’ team in the under-11 age category.

Johnson returned to Harare in 1998 from Natal with the intention of representing his country of birth at international level, being in touch with former Zimbabwe player Andy Pycroft, who made arrangements for him to join the Zimbabwe team.

He missed out on playing in the bilateral home ODI series against India in October 1998 due to a delay in receiving his Zimbabwean passport, but this was granted and Zimbabwean citizenship was restored by the authorities just 48 hours prior to the start of the one-off Test match at Harare.

He broke into the Test squad as selectors deliberately kept their options wide open.

Johnson's Test debut was against India on 7 October 1998 at the Harare Sports Club.

Despite not making any significant contributions with the bat on debut, he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in both innings.

Zimbabwe went onto register a 73-run victory after bowling out India cheaply for 173 runs.

He was subsequently picked in Zimbabwe's squad for the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, which was also the inaugural ICC Champions Trophy.

He made his ODI debut during the tournament in the preliminary round match against New Zealand in a thrilling contest where New Zealand secured a last ball victory chasing 259, and consequently Zimbabwe did not qualify for the quarter-final of the tournament.

His career was cut short due to internal politics of Zimbabwe cricket, retiring in 2004 at the age of 34.

Johnson was born in Salisbury (now Harare).

Throughout his first-class career, he spent time in both South Africa and England, playing for Boland, Eastern Province, Natal, Western Province, Leicestershire and Hampshire.

He played most of his first-class cricket in South Africa.