TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.30pm.
A THREE-way international telephone call next month could help add years to Allan Donald’s Test career.
According to United Cricket Board (UCB) managing director Ali Bacher, the call will take place between Donald, new South African coach Graham Ford and Bacher, and is part of the effort to prolong Donald’s playing days.
The veteran paceman turns 33 in October, but he remains South Africa’s champion bowler and one of the finest of his generation. He also owes allegiance to Warwickshire, which he has represented on the gruelling county circuit since 1987.
“By virtue of the fact that he is such a brilliant athlete Donald could play international cricket for another four years,” Bacher said on Tuesday.
“With careful management by Warwickshire, he should be able to do it, but his heart has to be in it and that’s one of things we want to talk about next month.”
The most effective way to ensure Donald plays longer at the highest level would seem to be to call on him sparingly, which should apply not only to his captain on the field but also to the selectors. For instance, Donald has said he would be happy not to have to tour the sub-continent again – and South Africa are away to India in February and March next year.
However, Bacher declined to entertain the notion of Donald being permitted to cherry-pick his tours beyond saying, “It would not be clever to pick Allan for every one-day international South Africa plays next summer.”
The West Indians have led the way in that regard by selecting Courtney Walsh but leaving out Curtly Ambrose for a limited overs triangular against India and Zimbabwe in Singapore in September. Ambrose, and not Walsh, will be in the team for the Sharjah tournament in October.
The idea, the West Indies Cricket Board explained in a statement, was to alternate Ambrose and Walsh in the plethora of limited overs tournaments the team is committed to.
Donald was due to resume hostilities for Warwickshire after the World Cup, but he is out of action with an injury to his left ankle that saw him pull up in three of the last four matches in which he bowled.
That sort of wear and tear, and the fact that Warwickshire want Donald back next season, has prompted the UCB to take action.
A vital figure in the “careful management” of Donald Bacher spoke of will be Bob Woolmer, who returns as Warwickshire coach next season and has been appointed as a consultant coach by the UCB following his five years in charge of the South African team.
Woolmer said from England he would meet with Donald on Wednesday to see how his injury was responding to treatment. — MWP