Biography of Allan Donald:- Allan Donald is a former international bowler and coach, he was born on October 20, 1966, in Orange Free State South Africa.Allan Donald is a former International cricketer who played for South Africa from 1991-2003.
The Proteas right-arm pace machine is the living legend, he was only of its kind in the South African cricket team, Donald was a right-arm fast bowler and was nicknamed as ‘White Lightning’ by his teammates.
At the peak of his test career, Donald was incomparable in the test format for his long and consistent spells that made some greats of that era shiver like the rookies in front of Allan Donald.
Allan topped the tables for the first time in 1997-98, he reached the milestone many times during the next couple of years. As he reached a conclusion, Donald was struck by injuries and bad form, he completed his test career on a bitter note bearing a defeat against the Aussies.
Biography of Allan Donald
- Born:- 20 October 1966 (age 50), Bloemfontein, South Africa
- Height:- 1.93 m
- Spouse:- Tina Donald
- Test Debut:- 18 April 1992 v West Indies
- Bowling Style:- Right arm fast
- Children:- Hannah Donald, Oliver Donald
After making his Test debut in 1992, Allan Donald was an underdog for the first two years of his International career, he accelerated both his pace and targeting skills with time and soon became a part of world’s most fearsome opening bowling attacks after Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
Apart from appearances in International cricket, Allan Donald made a huge impact in county cricket playing for Warwickshire Cricket Club from 1987 to 2000.
Donald’s post-retirement career ended in a respectable manner, excelled in coaching for the next phase of his shiny career. Donald before making his debut in International cricket, he got a boost of experience combined with a great company of coaches and veteran cricketers in domestic league cricket.
He was an integral part and the spearhead of Impalas bowling attack from 1986 onwards. Donald joined Worcestershire in 2002 at the brink of retirement from International cricket and played there for a year only.
Allan Donald Stats and Records
Allan Donald was an economical and intelligent bowler, he utilized his bowling skills correctly by hiding his few shortcomings with notable performances every time.
Allan Donald stats and records are fairly appreciable in both test and ODI format. In a total of 72 test matches,
Allan was mostly a leading bowler for South Africa, he took 330 wickets with a sparkling bowling average of 22.25, and his economy was 2.83 in the five-day format that is one of the best ones.
The best bowling figures were 8/71, and the top score was 37 in batting. Allan Donald’s 20 five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket hauls are the significant statistical achievements. In 164 ODIs, Allan Donald took 272 wickets, two five-wicket hauls and the best bowling stats of 6/23.
His bowling average of 21.78 was phenomenal in that format of the game. Overall, Allan Donald appeared in 316 first-class matches, amassed 1.216 wickets at a bowling average of 22.76, he was best in first-class domestic and International with 68 five-wicket hauls and the best bowling figures of 8/37. Allan Donald also took 115 catches in his first-class career.
International Career
Allan Donald started his Test career well and good with a 3-wicket spell and then concluding the debut game with 6 wickets overall. Allan Donald remained a supporting bowler in both the formats for the Proteas team, he was known for his anger towards his opponents.
Donald was in his prime in 1997 and 1998 seasons, he had a great line and length, Donald’s pace was a beautiful piece of art as he mixed variations with the experience he possessed in the bowling department.
Donald remained with the team since 2002, he was out of the team for the brief periods when he was injured a couple of times. The match against England that can’t be erased from Allan Donald’s memories was the one played at Trent Bridge.
Allan Donald though wicketless for the session was at his best and tried to defend a small total against tougher opposition. He had a great spell in the first innings with a 5-wicket haul.
Allan Donald tried defending a 247-run target with one of the most impressive spells of test cricket history, it was a defining moment of Allan’s career.
In the end, Michael Atherton survived the fierce spell dodging perfect bouncers along with the dangerous pace of Allan Donald.
Tumbling the World Cup 1999
One of the greatest tragedies for Cricket South Africa involved a mistake by Allan Donald. It was Allen Donald who did not take a run when Lance Klusener asked him to run.
The incident is one of the most famous and searched one in the cricket world. It was the semi-final match of Cricket World Cup 1999, and South Africa was right on track to win comfortably after the collapse.
Donald was instrumental early in the inning when South Africa restricted Australia to 213. Allan took 4 wickets for 32 while Pollock was better than anyone with 5/36.
The scores were level after an exciting battle of cricket between both countries, Lance Klusener hits it comfortably to score winning runs and called Allan Donald for a run, Allan did not listen to Klusener and stayed at his crease watching the ball going down.
By the time Donald realized his mistake and started running towards the other end, it was too late, and both the batsmen were on the same side of the crease. He thrown his bat and ran hard but was out before he even reached the middle of the crease.
The match was tied with Australia proceeding to the finals for having a better run rate than South Africa. Donald was bashed hard for the mistakes that cost South Africa an opportunity to win the World Cup.
Australia went on to win three World Cups in a row with an undefeated streak in three World Cups. It was one of the biggest mistakes done by any International cricketer at that step.
Allan Donald concluded his International career in early 2003 after a match against Canada in ICC World Cup 2003 that was won by South Africa by 118 runs.
Allan Donald played his last Test match a year sooner than ODI retirement after being defeated by Australia convincingly on February 2002.Allan Donald also has the rare distinction of representing South Africa in four World Cups.
Post-Retirement Career
After retirement from Test cricket in 2002, Allan Donald continued playing for Worcestershire and Warwickshire. Donald had some unique links with English County cricket officials and ECB members by then who helped him get a coaching position later.
In 2002 season, he played only one match for Worcestershire and started his new job i.e. commentary. In 2002, South African Broadcast Corporation hired the former bowler for the next five years i.e. until 2007 World Cup. The contract was later renewed for 10 years and then the next five years afterward.
In between 2002-2010, Allan Donald served English cricket team as a bowling consultant in 2007 summer season. ECB decided to permanently hire Allan for the forthcoming tour that was rejected by Donald in September 2007.
Later in 2008, Allan Donald-coached his former county club Warwickshire CC and led his Club to the title of County Championship for the second time.
After a great stint with English Cricket team and then Warwickshire, Allan Donald helped the Zimbabwean domestic side Mountaineers in the same season and then New Zealand for the ODI series against Pakistan in 2010.
Allan Donald continued coaching New Zealand for ICC World Cup 2011. New Zealand reached the semi-finals after beating South Africa and was the only non-Asian team to arrive at the “best four” round in 2011 World Cup.
After the World Cup, South African Cricket Board approached Allan Donald to coach home side for the summer season of 2011. Donald remained the coach of Proteas for two years. Allan Donald also coached IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Allan Donald Family and Personal Life
Allan Donald lives in Durbin, South Africa with his wife, Tina Donald. Allan Donald wife Tina Donald is an English woman, she lived in Birmingham before marriage.
They have a son, Oliver Donald and a daughter, Hannah Donald. Allan had rough times with his family throughout his career, he once left a series when coaching South African cricket team in England.
Interesting Facts about Allan Donald
- The first language of Allan Donald is Afrikaans, English is Donald’s second language.
- Allan Donald is a great admirer of his former captain and one of the primary facilitator of a match-fixing row in the 90s. Even after Cronje’s confession, Allan Donald admired with the same heart and feelings and described him as one of the greatest and natural leaders.
- Allan Donald was as good in rugby as he was in cricket, he once rated rugby as number one by a huge margin compared to football and cricket.
- Allan Donald made his first-class debut when he was only 19 for Orange Free State.
- Donald was at his best in the last match of career, he ended the Boxing Day test, his last one, by 12 wickets against India.
