Allan Donald

Broad shoulders, fire in the eyes, cream chapped on the face and a huge built – his appearance on the cricket field was like a warrior wanting to banish anyone that came in his way. The man in question here is Allan Anthony Donald. 

The first Protea to capture 300 test wickets and one of the most successful Test bowlers South African cricket has ever produced, he easily ranks among the best the game has seen. This can mainly be attributed to his classical bowling action and his sheer ability to spear the ball in, shape it away or just do enough to fox the batsmen.

Foray into International cricket

© Getty Images Donald in action during the fourth Test match against England, Trent Bridge, 1998

It was only a few months before South Africa was to be re-admitted to International Cricket that Allan had made up his mind to migrate to Warwickshire and play county Cricket. However, just at the right time came some useful advice from Dr. Ali Bacher, then driving South African cricket, and he decided to stay on and continue playing cricket in South Africa. Here started his incredible journey with the sport that 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 banned from international Cricket. Within a season of his debut, he became a force to reckon with. He was fiery, lethally fast and incredibly accurate. 

Donald joined the Warwickshire County Cricket Club in 1987 and that was the start to an alliance that was to last a very long time. He could have carried on playing for Warwickshire, for he already had an England passport, but his aspiration was to play for South Africa, and resisted the move to England. 

Donald made a spectacular debut, in South Africa’s readmission to international cricket. Playing against India in front of more than 90,000 Indians at the Eden Gardens, claiming 5 for 29 in a display of fast bowling that made the rest of the world sit up and take notice. His cricketing journey had begun. Five months later he donned the test cap for his nation for the first time against the West Indies.

Very early in his career, he captured 12 for 139 against India in Port Elizabeth in December 1992 to help the Proteas to victory on a pitch that was not known as conducive to fast bowling. He later registered 11 wickets in a one-off test against Zimbabwe in October 1995, knocking over eight wickets in the Zimbabwean second innings as South Africa again claimed victory. Performances like these made him South Africa’s premier fast bowler for a better part of his career that spanned over a decade.

One Dayers – A different cup of tea

Donald didn't always enjoy the same success in limited overs cricket, and was sometimes left out of the South African one-day team. He was controversially dropped from the team at the quarterfinal stage of the 1996 World Cup. South Africa, who had easily beaten all opposition up to that point, were defeated and ousted from the competition.

© Getty Images Donald celebrates South Africa's victory in the VB Series, 2001/02

Success against the best

Allan Donald was not only known for his scorching pace, but also for the movement off the pitch that he was able to extort in difficult conditions. One such delivery that stays etched in memory was when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in 1996, with a delivery that nipped back in so late, that Tendulkar could not realize when his stumps went cartwheeling!

Donald was known to raise his game by that extra notch, when pitted against the best batsmen of his times. Michael Atherton (11 dismissals), Mark Waugh (10 dismissals), Brian Lara (6 dismissals) and Sachin Tendulkar (5 dismissals), will all testify just how good ‘White Lightning’ was.

Adapting to the changing times and needs

In the latter part of his career, Allan showed his willingness to adapt to the times; he preferred to bowl first-change, he would shorten his run-up and although that did cut short his pace, it did little to curb his effectiveness. In a way, this change prolonged his career as well and helped him become a better bowler.

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 played in four consecutive World Cups between 1992 and 2003. However his last World Cup, on home turn, proved to be a disaster, as the hosts did not even make it to the Super Sixes. Donald, with other teammates like Jonty Rhodes had looked to end their career on a high by winning the World Cup, but that would only remain a dream.

Donald played his last test match against Australia at Johannesburg in 2002. He was forced to opt out of the Test arena much earlier than many expected, due to a prolonging neck injury. 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 will always miss the “White Lightning.”