"A bowler's bowler"

Angus Fraser

England medium-pacer and Middlesex captain; played 10 Tests against Donald


Allan Donald was a bowler's bowler; he worked hard, played hard, and made life as uncomfortable for you as he could. His pure, simple action was relatively easy to pick up, but his pace was regularly more than enough for top players, let alone my limited resources. The one time I did just manage to get better of him was in the third Test at old Trafford in 1998. South Africa got millions, bowled us out, made us follow on and slowly worked their way through our order on the last day. Donald was the difference between the two teams, getting pace and bounce out of a lifeless surface. For eight-and-a-half sessions he roared in and was bowling as quickly at me - as I tried to keep out his last 13 deliveries - as he had at the game. I remember him attempting to bowl me a yorker with the last ball of the Test after several short balls had struck me all over the body. It hit me on the back-boot, and would have gone down the leg side, but he and the rest of the South Africans put in a huge appeal which the umpire turned down.