Alasdair Fraser shares some of his best memories witnessing Allan Donald in action.
My first experience of Donald was watching him in the bright orange colours of the then Orange Free State at Newlands during a Benson & Hedges Night Series match against WP.
His ‘White Lightning’ nickname rang true as he banged in ball after ball with incredible speed. He was considered the fastest bowler in South Africa, but looking through my parochial Province lens, I didn’t take a liking to him. I loved it when my childhood hero, Adrian Kuiper, got his eye in and took a liking to Donald by despatching him into the old Willows section of Newlands.
But I remember changing my viewpoint with the same speed as Donald’s first international ball was delivered. Waking up to witness the Proteas’ return after 21 years of isolation was something special. The grainy footage, accompanied by Trevor Quirk’s telephone-call tone commentary, stuck in my 11-year-old mind. Enter Donald. He didn’t waste any time, taking 5-29 and picking up the wicket of a young prodigy – Sachin Tendulkar.
I can only imagine how happy, and relieved, Donald must have been. He had considered playing for England while firing up the County circuit for Warwickshire. Dr Ali Bacher had persuaded him to bide his time as South Africa went through huge changes in the matter of years. His patience paid dividends.
Playing at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the Proteas had the international sport-starved country glued to their TV screens. Even with South Africa’s very first ball at a World Cup, there was drama. Donald steamed in and Geoff Marsh blatantly ‘tickled’ one to wicketkeeper Dave Richardson. Not out! An iconic moment in the Cricket World Cup annals.
Donald would spend the rest of the 1990s menacing top-order batsmen with short rip-snorters and his trademark Yorkers. It was a sight to behold and during a time when the country was in the grip of Madiba Magic. Wonderful memories.
His battle with Mike Atherton at the Wanderers in 1995, and more memorably, Trent Bridge, was some of the fiercest spells of fast bowling you will ever see. And the treasured wicket of Tendulkar at Kingsmead, after the Little Master had the better of him earlier in the innings, was a sight to behold. Donald took off like a Boeing 747 in celebration after Tendulkar’s off-stump cartwheeled to the boundary.
For many, Donald’s run out in the 1999 semi-final sticks in the mind. It wasn’t fair as he shouldn’t have been put in that situation. Yet he came back stronger and hungrier to demolish the England batting lineup months later at the Wanderers, which included a two-ball bowled duck for Mike Atherton, with the Poms dangling at 34-5 in the first Test of the series.
The way he came back after Edgbaston showed just how much of a legend Allan Donald is in the cricketing world and one of the finest to ever play international cricket. Salute, AD. Well done on becoming a Cricket Hall of Famer.
Photo: 103FM Trinidad/Twitter
