Centurion (South Africa) - A week ago Neil McKenzie was scolding himself about an opportunity he had lost in scoring what would have been a debut century for Northerns.

He made up for it at Centurion yesterday with a career-best SuperSport Series innings of 166 not out against former teammates Gauteng as the Titans piled on the agony to end the day on 312 for four and four batting points.

The 23-year-old batsman now in the process of restructuring his career after an unhappy time at the Wanderers, showed all the patience which was missing from his efforts of last week when he scored 79 against Easterns in Benoni.

I enjoyed it very much, said McKenzie a past SA Schools captain who joined Northerns in June and has impressed the Northerns coach, Peter Kirsten, who himself was a good advert for quality batting skills and technique.

It was important, for me, to bat through to lunch, no matter the score and take it from there. But patience was the keyword. he added. There was a nice spell after lunch which really got me motivated. I got to 40 quickly and from there it fell in to place.

I was lucky when I was 99 when I was missed, but it happens that way, he grinned.

Kirsten was full of praise for McKenzies innings as well as the 94 by Gerald Dros during which he help McKenzie add 223 for the fourth wicket. What a day, Kirsten mused. We have had a fantastic few days preparation and the way Neil batted showed that he is his own man, which is good.

He knew what he had to do and he took us through a very difficult period against some top bowling from David Terbrugge, Kirsten added.

So far his innings has lasted 413 minutes, arriving at the fall of the first wicket without a run on the board and the days play only three balls old.

His most profitable spell of batting was between his 50 and 100 when he took only 65 balls to reach the coveted figure for the fifth time in his career.