White Lightening!. Review on Allan Donald

It was only a few months before South Africa was to be re-admitted to international Cricket that a young fast bowler called Allan Donald made up his mind to migrate to Warwickshire and play county Cricket. But then came some useful advice from Dr. Ali Bacher, and Donald resisted the temptation of moving to England. Just imagine, if he had migrated to England, what lethal force England’s pace attack would have been! But that was not to be, for Allan Donald remained rooted to his South Africa and inspired a whole new generation of wannabe fast bowlers.

Allan Donald made his First Class debut in 1985-86 at a young age of 19 for Orange Free State at a time when South Africa was still barred from international Cricket. Within a season of his debut, he became a force to recon with. He was lethally fast. In spite of the forced omission of South Africa from world Cricket, the media in England followed his travails closely and he was soon being compared to some of the better known fast bowlers of England at that time.

He had joined the Warwickshire County Cricket Club in 1987 and it started off an association that was to last a very long time. He could have carried on playing for Warwickshire for he already had an England passport and he had the option of following in the footsteps of senior players like Allan Lamb and Robin Smith, who went on to play for England, but he chose to represent his home team South Africa. He had to wait another 4 years before the opportunity came to wear the South African cap. He did his country proud by taking a 5 wicket haul on his One-Day International debut against India, at Calcutta.

The following year in 1992, he made his Test debut against a depleted West Indies at Barbados. The match started off a glorious career that saw him scale new heights and set new records that were previously unheard of in South African Cricket. His fiery spell against India in a test match in 1992 gave the world a signal of what was to come, when he ripped India’s top order and had them reeling at 31/6. It was only thanks to Kapil Dev’s 129 that India could salvage some pride in that match (Interestingly, the next highest score in that inning of India was only 17). Donald took 7/84 in a breathtaking performance that gave his team the lead in that series.

Donald was ably supported by Fanie DeVilliers and Craig Matthews in the early part of his career and later on by Shaun Pollock. He stamped his authority at the long room of Lord’s when he took a 5 wicket haul against England in 1994. But his best figures came against Zimbabwe the same year when he took 8/71 at Harare.

Allan Donald was not only known for his fiery pace, but also for the movement off the pitch that he was able to extract in trying conditions. One such incident happened in 1996 when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar with a delivery that nipped back in so late the Sachin could not realize when his stumps went cart wheeling!

Among the various batsmen that he has dismissed is Michael Atherton who he dismissed 11 times. Among others are Alec Stewart, Mark Waugh, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, all of whom he dismissed more than 5 times.

IT WAS not quite 'the rumble in the jungle'. It was more like an unstoppable force coming up against an immovable object. – Angus Fraser, December 1998.

Donald's rivalry with former England captain Michael Atherton is the talk of the legends. The most important incident that defined the rivalry between both of them dates back to the summer of 1998 at Trent Bridge. It was the second inning of England and they were chasing a modest target for victory. Atherton gloved a delivery as it went to the keeper. Both Donald and Atherton knew that he had gloved it but Atherton stood his ground and waited for the umpire’s decision. The umpire gave the decision in favor of the batsman, and Donald was left seething with disgust. He glared back at Atherton and it set the tone for a fiery spell from him that gave the Cricketing pundits a lot to talk about. Atherton was almost mauled by the near bodyline spell while the England players sitting in the dressing room could not believe their eyes.

A team man to the core, Donald never thought twice before doing anything for his teammates. Even though he and Pollock were the opening partners of the South African bowling attack, Donald never gave it a second thought when his captain Cronje asked him to come in as the first change bowler in favor of Lance Klusener. He shared a good camaraderie with Hansie Cronje and was the most disappointed when Cronje was banned from Cricket for life.

Donald played his last test match against Australia at Johannesburg in 2002. He was sad to leave the Test arena due to a neck injury that cut his glorious career short by a few years. The following year, after the world cup of 2003, he retired from all forms of Cricket. At a time when fast bowling was associated with Ambrose-Walsh and Wasim-Waqar combinations, Donald stood out as one of the most lethal and accurate bowlers of all time. We still miss his flying aero plane run after he picked up each of his 330 wickets. To round off the review, here are his career statistics as a bowler:

ODI

Matches: 164

Balls: 8561

Wickets: 272

Best: 6/23

Average: 21.78

Economy: 4.15

Tests

Matches: 72

Balls: 15519

Wickets: 330

Best: 8/71

Average: 22.25

5 wickets: 20

10 wickets: 3