KEY POINTS:
A global search by the Marist Cricket Club in Christchurch for an overseas professional five years ago today culminated in Grant Elliot becoming the first South African named in a New Zealand test squad.
The 28-year-old's gradual but deliberate rise can be traced back to Marist stalwart Darron Reekers suggesting Elliot as the ideal candidate after the pair crossed paths while playing in Holland.
The Johannesburg-born allrounder was sold on the move south, eventually moving to Wellington.
After three seasons of first class cricket, his perseverance was rewarded with inclusion in the 13-man New Zealand squad for the opening test against England in Hamilton starting next Wednesday.
Elliot got a surprising tap on the shoulder from selector Glenn Turner during the lunch break on the final day of England's tour match against a New Zealand Invitation 11 at University Oval in Dunedin today - a game the 28-year-old had not even expected to play in.
"It was quite quick. He said `You're in the 13-man squad', I said `Thank you Glenn' and that was the extent of our conversation," Elliot said.
"I sat down in the changing room and I thought to myself `Woa, I've still got to go out and bowl .... I kept my mind on the game. I think it will soak in when I lie down on the bed in the hotel."
Elliot had no inkling he was on trial, not just there to make up the numbers.
"I didn't see it coming. Getting an opportunity to play in an invitation game like this, I suppose if you're in the right place at the right time - you never know ...."
Describing himself as a batting allrounder, it was Elliot's swinging medium pacers that made the biggest impression against the tourists.
He claimed Ian Bell with his fourth ball in the first innings on Thursday and also had Paul Collingwood caught behind cheaply to finish with two for 12 off eight.
He then scored 28 during a productive stand with Mathew Sinclair and delivered 13 overs for 28 before the match ended in a weather-affected stalemate.
Although today's announcement caught him unawares, Elliot has been earmarked for higher honours for some time, and only just missed the cut for New Zealand's Twenty20 World Cup squad to South Africa last September.
Elliot has fashioned a solid if not spectacular first class record since making his debut for Transvaal in the 1996-97 season.
Before the tour match he had scored 1506 runs at 27.38 with three centuries and eight 50s.
For Wellington this season he averages 23.42 with a best of 64 in the State Championship while in the domestic one-day competition he has superior stats of 323 runs at 64.60 and a top score of 91 not out.
He has 15 State Shield wickets at 20.33 and five at 32.40 in the four-day competition.
Elliot made one appearance for the South African A side against their Indian counterparts before leaving South Africa in 2001 to play in Holland for the HBS club.
Now he is settled in the capital with his Dutch partner and there is no doubt where his allegiance lies.
"As soon as I arrived in New Zealand and made it my home I had aspirations for playing international cricket for New Zealand.
"It's a really tough move to make, you always grow up thinking you're going to be a Springbok or a Protea and then you make that change to another country," he said.
"When I played for New Zealand A (in Australia last winter), when I opened the bag and saw the silver fern - that was a real indication that New Zealand's my home and I'll give everything for New Zealand."
New Zealand
Daniel Vettori (captain), Matthew Bell, Jamie How, Stephen Fleming, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Grant Elliot, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin.
- NZPA
