Allan Donald
Encyclopedia
Allan Anthony Donald is a former South African cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er and one of their most successful pace bowlers
Bowling (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...

.

In his prime, he was one of the best fast bowlers ever seen in Test cricket, reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings in 1998 and peaked with a top ICC ranking of 895 points the next year, the 25th best ranking ever. In ODIs, he reached 794 points in 1998, second place to his teammate Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Maclean Pollock is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in...

, the 28th best ranking ever. In the early 1990s, he was arguably the only world-class bowler in the South African team, until the emergence of Pollock, with whom he made a healthy new-ball partnership from the 1996/1997 tour of India until his retirement in 2002.

He made his Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 debut on 18 April 1992 in South Africa's first test since their return to world sport after the abolition of apartheid. South Africa lost to the West Indies in Barbados by 52 runs, but Donald took 2-67 and 4-77, including the prized wicket of Brian Lara
Brian Lara
Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM is a former West Indian international cricket player. Lara is generally regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time...

.

Known as 'White Lightning', he is remembered as a fearsome fast bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...

, scowling and aggressive, with a circular white area of zinc cream across his cheeks and nose. When he retired, he was South Africa's record wicket-taker with 330 Test wickets at an average of 22.25, and claimed 272 One Day International wickets at an average of 21.78. Both of these records have now been overtaken by Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Maclean Pollock is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in...

.

1992 Cricket World Cup

South Africa's first game in the 1992 Cricket World Cup
1992 Cricket World Cup
-New Zealand:-Round Robin Stage:Co-hosts New Zealand proved the surprise packet of the tournament, winning their first seven games to finish on top of the table after the round robin. The other hosts, Australia, were one of the pre-tournament favourites but lost their first two matches. They...

 was against Australia. From his first ball, Donald got a noticeable edge off Geoff Marsh
Geoff Marsh
Geoffrey Robert Marsh is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman...

 to the keeper, but the umpire Brian Aldridge
Brian Aldridge
Brian Aldridge is a retired professional cricket player and professional cricket umpire, and the National Umpiring Manager for New Zealand cricket. He was one of the umpires in the 1992 Cricket World Cup final between England and Pakistan.-References:...

 didn't give the decision.

1997 racism allegations

In 1997 he came under intense scrutiny from the international cricket media after he was alleged to have used racially abusive language against India's Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

 in the finals of a one-day series. Allan Donald mentioned this incident in his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

, White Lightning:

"in the middle of a noisy, partisan atmosphere, with the final in the balance, ...I got involved in an incident that has since caused me a lot of grief, leading to accusations that I am a racist.

"I was really pumped by the time Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

 and Dravid came together, but they soon got after me. Tendulkar pulled me for a flat six over midwicket, a wonderful shot...but when Dravid smashed me for six and four, I got carried away in typical fast bowler's fashion. I walked right up to him, face to face, and snarled, 'This isn't such a fucking easy game' and the TV cameras had me in close-up, with everyone lip-reading my words. Dravid's eyes lit up when he saw me standing so close, and the Durban crowd absolutely loved it."

He continues:

"In the end, they [The Indians] folded, we won the Final after looking out of it, and I thought no more about it, to me it was just a high-octane period of a match that we desperately wanted to win, and we did because we had the bottle to do so. Straight afterwards, I went to Dravid and told him my words weren't meant to be personal, that it was all in the heat of the moment, it should stay out in the middle and shouldn't be a problem between us. He gave me a hard look, and left it at that. I thought no more of it."

1998 Test Match at Trent Bridge

Donald had a now famous duel with the English batsman Michael Atherton during the Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...

 Test Match of 1998. This duel has since gone down as one of the most electrifying and intense periods of Test match cricket in history.

South Africa batted first, scoring 374 in their first innings. England responded with 336, Donald taking 5 wickets, giving South Africa a slender lead of 38 runs. In their second innings, South Africa were undone by the English bowling attack, scoring 208, with Angus Fraser
Angus Fraser
Angus Robert Charles Fraser is the current Managing Director of Cricket of Middlesex County Cricket Club, and a former English cricketer and journalist....

 taking five wickets. This left England with a target of 247 to win the match. Note that England had not successfully chased down a target this big in the 4th innings at home to win a match since 1902.

The final innings of the game began on the fourth day, 12 overs before tea. Butcher scored 22 before falling to Shaun Pollock with the score at 40-1, and Atherton was joined by Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...

. Hussain and Atherton comfortably negotiated the other bowlers, Elworthy
Steve Elworthy
Steven Elworthy is a former South African cricketer who has fostered a career in administration with Cricket South Africa and the ECB.-International career:...

, Cronje
Hansie Cronje
Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje was a South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s...

 and Kallis
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...

, and Pollock
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Maclean Pollock is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in...

 was unable to follow up on his earlier success.

Donald, sensing that the match was on the line, proceeded to bowl a fast, fearsome spell. Bowling from the Pavilion End of the ground, he sought to extract the extra bounce that Angus Fraser had used. One delivery towards Atherton appeared to catch the glove on its way past his chest; the South Africans roared an appeal for caught behind, supported by the television commentators, which was rejected by the umpire. Donald was incensed, calling Atherton a "fucking cheat", raising the tension further.

Donald proceeded to hurl three bouncers from around the wicket, at close to 90 mph, but Atherton was immovable. Both cricketers have described this vignette in their respective autobiographies, Donald's White Lightning and Atherton's Opening Up, and both regard it as one of the most intense periods of Test Match Cricket they ever played. Donald speaks of the electric atmosphere in the crowd surging him on. Atherton mentions that the ball is a blur, but he is playing well. In the next over, Donald continued in the same manner to Atherton, who eventually top-edged him just over Paul Adams at square-leg.

Soon after this, the crucial moment occurred. Donald enticed an edge from Hussain to give an apparently simple catch to the keeper, Mark Boucher
Mark Boucher
Mark Verdon Boucher is a South African cricketer, who holds the record for the most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper. He was educated at Selborne College and has represented Border, Africa XI, ICC World XI, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, and...

. Both Donald and the nearby fielders had started to celebrate when they heard the edge. However, the ball bounced out of Boucher's gloves, and the celebrating Kallis at slip was in a poor position to take the rebound. Boucher appeared distraught, and Donald was furious. With a small amount of luck, England finished the day on top.

The following day, Pollock and Donald again came out firing. Pollock had a couple of chances but the edges didn't reach the keeper. Donald had another attempt at bouncing out Atherton from around the wicket, but couldn't make the breakthrough. Although Hussain was dismissed shortly after lunch, the new batsman Alec Stewart
Alec Stewart
Alec James Stewart OBE is a retired English cricketer, a right-handed batsman-wicketkeeper and former captain of the England cricket team...

 batted aggressively, and took England home by 8 wickets, with Atherton finishing on 98.

This intense period of play, which captivated audiences in the ground and on TV, remains in Test Match folklore. Nonetheless, at the end of the day's play, the protagonists were sharing a beer in the dressing room. Several years later, Atherton gave Donald the gloves he wore on this occasion for Donald's benefit year auction. According to Atherton's autobiography, the red mark where the ball struck was clearly visible, which he duly circled and autographed.

1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final

In what is often referred to as "the greatest one-day match in cricket", between South Africa and Australia, Donald was the last batsmen on the South African team, and is often held responsible for their exit from the tournament. Although the match technically ended in a tie, South Africa had previously lost to Australia in the Super-Six phase, and needed to win outright to progress to the final.

With Australia batting first, Donald and Pollock were the most successful bowlers in the South African team, and restricted Australia to 213, Donald taking 4-32, and Pollock 5-36. Donald picked up the wicket of Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

 with his first ball, in the 14th over, and another wicket with the last ball of the same over, Darren Lehmann
Darren Lehmann
Darren Scott Lehmann is a former Australian cricketer, who made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection for the entirety of the 1990s, and only became a regular in the ODI team in 2001 and Test team in late 2002, before being dropped in early 2005...

 caught whilst trying to deal with a bouncer. In the penultimate over, Donald clean-bowled Paul Reiffel
Paul Reiffel
Paul Ronald Reiffel is a former Australian cricketer who played in 35 Tests and 92 ODIs from 1992 to 1999. He was part of Australia's victorious 1999 World Cup team. After retirement he became a First Class cricket umpire.-Playing career:Reiffel's career best bowling figures of 6-71 came at...

 and Damien Fleming
Damien Fleming
Damien William Fleming is a former Australian cricketer who played in 20 Tests and 88 ODIs from 1994 to 2001....

, with Australia slipping from 207-6 to 213 all out.

South Africa's reply began well, going to 48-0 off 12 overs. The introduction of Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...

 had immediate effect, as South Africa slipped to 61-4, Warne taking 3 wickets. Kallis
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...

 and Rhodes
Jonty Rhodes
Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes is a former South African Test and One Day International cricketer who played for the South African cricket team between 1992 and 2003.Rhodes was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa...

 took the score to 145-4, before both fell in the space of a few overs. At 183-6 with 4 overs remaining, chasing 214 to win, South Africa appeared to be slightly on top. However, good bowling and fielding restricted South Africa, and with the run-out of Steve Elworthy, they needed to score 16 off the last 8 balls to win without losing a wicket, with Lance Klusener
Lance Klusener
Lance Klusener is a South African cricketer, more specifically an all-rounder. He is known for his aggressive batting and his fast-medium swing bowling. He is nicknamed "Zulu" because of his fluency in that language. Following his exploits at the 1999 World Cup, he topped the ICC ODI Batting...

 and Allan Donald at the crease. Klusener hit McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...

 in the air towards Paul Reiffel on the boundary, who unluckily parried it for 6, and ran a single on the last ball to keep the strike for the final over.

Klusener hit Damien Fleming
Damien Fleming
Damien William Fleming is a former Australian cricketer who played in 20 Tests and 88 ODIs from 1994 to 2001....

 for consecutive fours off the first two balls of the last over. With the scores level and 4 balls to go, it appeared South Africa would be victorious, needing only a single for victory. Klusener mis-hit the next ball to Lehmann at mid-on, and Donald, who had "backed-up" down the crease, narrowly escaped being run-out as he turned to go back. The next ball, Klusener hit the ball straight down the wicket and set off immediately, probably assuming Donald would be backing up. Instead, Donald was watching the ball, and missed the call to run. Both batsmen were at the bowler's end before Donald started running, having dropped his bat. The ball was thrown to the bowler, then to Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...

, who broke the stumps at the other end, with Donald only halfway down the pitch.

Outside International Cricket

In English county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

, Donald enjoyed a long and highly successful career with Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

. He also played a single match for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

 in 2002. Having retired from playing, he now commentates for South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) in their coverage of South Africa's home Tests, alongside former teammate Daryll Cullinan. In May 2007, Allan Donald was appointed as a temporary bowling consultant for the England cricket team. His involvement impressed many, and was praised by several players. Donald's original brief contract was extended until September 2007. Donald decided not to continue with his coaching role at the end of September 2007 citing the strain of touring and his wish to be with his family. Donald was a coach at Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

, and in partnership with fellow coach Ashley Giles
Ashley Giles
Ashley Fraser Giles MBE is a retired English cricketer. Giles played the entirety of his 14-year first-class career at Warwickshire County Cricket Club where he is now employed as Director of Cricket...

 helped the county to win the Second Division of the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

 in 2008.

Allan Donald coached the reigning domestic champions, Mountaineers, (a franchise team) in Zimbabwe and is the bowling coach for the New Zealand cricket team for the ODI series against Pakistan and the 2011 Cricket World Cup
2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup...

. New Zealand team beat South Africa in the quarter final match of the world cup.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK