Port Elizabeth - Almost everyone you meet these days has a theory about Lance Klusener. To know the man called Zulu, though, is to also understand his need for privacy in a world where adulation is as fickle as is an uncaring public reaction to failure.

He would rather be on some north Natal Coast beach fishing for shad, which has long been a favoured pursuit of a number of South African players, than have to face an inquisitive national and international media and supply intimate details about yet another of his batting heroics.

It showed again why he is the essential team man: modest in nature, calm and as certain of his gameplan as he is of his choice of strokeplay. And if any thing was proved on Friday during his record innings of 174 it was that there should no longer be any lingering doubt about his place as a Test player.

He was South Africa's hero at the World Cup, the limited-overs conqueror with buckets of ability and the man who knows how to revive lost causes. There were those, of course, who wanted to axe him from the side in favour of Mornantau Hayward: the local fast bowling warrior who has gone head hunting in his first Test with his debut wicket being the Michael Atherton clone, Michael Vaughan.

Okay, so Klusener has not been among the wickets this Test season: a total of four and all against Zimbabwe. But ask him to do a job and he shrugs his broad shoulders and work his way into a tireless rhythm to keep an end going. Not as a defensive bowler either but as someone who can pick up wickets or breach the batting dykes at a time the wall seems impregnable.

It was former England captain, Alec Stewart, whose after-match off the cuff quotes were as prompt as they were an assessment, by the opposition of Klusener's ability as a batsman.

Off the field he is easy-going, quiet and can pull the odd prank or two. Facing the media, whether talking Zulu, Xhosa or English, is not as simple as discussing intimate details at a press conference of his record innings. Perhaps he felt the need to answer them was as case of "aw . . . shucks, do I have to."

The thought of looking at a bank of tape recorders and microphones was perhaps a mite more intimidating than the England bowlers. He enjoyed himself immensely at the expense of Darren Gough, Phil Tufnell and Andy Caddick as he often hit through the line and there were times when he shot selection was as good as any of the top six. Recusing himself with the comment "feeling tired" could be accepted by some.

"They (South Africa) certainly won the first day and a half of this Test and with Klusener being exceptional. You can now say he has lost that specialist one-day player tag.

"He showed his quality out there. He's cool, he's calm and you can say he is a quality Test player. There is a lot about him which needs to be reassessed." Just the sort of words which will further shove the innings of 174 under the nose of his critics.

When Andrew Caddick took the second new ball, steaming in from the Park Drive end the score was 269 for seven. Jonty Rhodes had departed the night before and Shaun Pollock barely settled in his pavilion chair and another wicket at this stage would spell a touch of gloom for South Africa.

Up steps the left-hander and wielding his bat, as would any dragon slayer of old, to let rip with a straight drive. It was all a matter of carrying the fight further, establishing who was in control and capable of stretching the total beyond the limits England had hoped to place on his strokemaking abilities. Klusener is not one to be flustered by irregular pitch bounce. He carved up the bowling with a ready smile: a chef enjoying his job of slicing up prime beef.

Yet there were the usual grumbles when the man, wary and shy of media attention, wanted to step out of the pressure of the limelight.