Domestic career

Klusener played for KwaZulu-Natal (Nashua Dolphins) in the domestic level in South Africa between 1991 and 2004. In 2004, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club signed him on a contract running until late 2008. At Wantage Road he impressed with his fired-up seam bowling and his hard-hitting in the low middle-order. Due to family bereavements back home, it was announced that his contract with the county will not be renewed at the end of the 2008 season. In late 2007, he started playing in the Indian Cricket League Twenty20 tournament in India for the Kolkata Tigers team.

International career

Klusener made his Test debut for South Africa against India in Calcutta during the second Test in 1996/97. Klusener, at the time playing primarily as a bowler, took some fearful hammering at the hands of Mohammad Azharuddin, who at one point hit him for five consecutive fours, in his first innings of his debut but returned career best figures of eight for 64 in the second.

Klusener will be remembered mainly for his contributions in One Day Internationals, in which he became feared as a hard hitting batsman and was voted as Man of the Tournament during the 1999 World Cup. He showed glimpses of his big-hitting in the years leading to the 1999 World Cup. His baseball-style backlift and thunderous hitting symbolised the tournament and his heroics nearly took South Africa to the final. He was also voted as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2000.

His international career has tapered off since then, due mainly to persistent ankle injuries, as well as a public dispute with the then South African captain Graeme Smith, who at a breakfast meeting shortly after his appointment to the captaincy described Klusener as a "disruptive force" to the younger players within the South African national cricket team, with the quote ending up in the South African press. However it seems that Klusener and Smith have patched up their differences.

He had scored 1,906 runs in 49 matches with a highest score of 174 and 80 wickets with best of 8/64 in Test Matches. In ODI's he scored 3,576 runs in 171 matches at an average of 41.1 with a highest score of 103 and took 192 wickets with a best of 6/49.

1999 World Cup

In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, South Africa had progressed to the semi-finals, and Klusener till then had an excellent tournament, taking 17 wickets and scoring 250 runs (including two half centuries) in 8 matches and building a reputation as a hard-hitting batsman in tight situations.

He won four Man of the Match awards out of the nine matches South Africa played in the tournament. The four awards were consecutive with respect to South Africa's wins (one match in between was won by Zimbabwe). The only other South African to win this award in this tournament was Jacques Kallis.

The second semi-final was played between Australia and South Africa in Edgbaston, England. Australia, having been put in to bat, set a target of 214 for South Africa to chase in 50 overs. Klusener came in to bat when South Africa were 175/6 in 44.5 overs, and by virtue of his big-hitting (along with support from other batsmen), South Africa entered the final over at 205/9, needing nine runs to win with only one wicket remaining. The two batsmen at the cr