returning exiles following in the footsteps of Murray Goodwin and Adam Huckle. He arrived back in Harare in around early September 1998 from Natal with the intention to represent his country of birth; Zimbabwe at international level. He was in touch with former Zimbabwean player Andy Pycroft who was then serving in the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and Andy made arrangements to fit in Neil to feature in Zimbabwe colours. Neil missed out on playing in the bilateral home ODI series against India in October 1998 due to delay in his passport clearance but his much-anticipated passport 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. International career He made his test debut against India on 7 October 1998 at Harare. Despite not making any significant contributions with the bat on debut, he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in both the innings of the match. Zimbabwe went onto register a historic 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 edition of the 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 as a result Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the quarter-final of the tournament. Chris Harris took the game away from Zimbabwe by scoring an unbeaten quickfire 37 off just 21 deliveries especially pouncing on the inexperienced Neil Johnson's final set of overs to secure a nail-biting win in order to qualify for the main draw of the tournament. In November 1998, only into his second test match he went onto score a career defining century, incidentally his maiden test century against Pakistan at Peshawar which also helped Zimbabwe to secure a historic first ever test win against Pakistan in Pakistan. Zimbabwe went onto eventually win the three match series 1–0 with second test match ending in a draw and third was abandoned without a ball being bowled. It also marked Zimbabwe's first ever test series win in Pakistan soil. 1999 World Cup campaign A year after a disappointing KnockOut Trophy, Johnson made a name for himself during