”I’m ecstatic and I can hardly wait for Saturday morning when I touch down at Heathrow,” Allan Donald says with typical fervour as he anticipates becoming a highly paid consultant to England’s bowlers for the next five weeks.
Yet it is soon evident that the amiable yet passionate 40-year-old, known by the dramatic nickname of White Lightning during the 72 Tests in which he opened the bowling for South Africa, craves the position on a permanent basis.
”When something is in your blood, like international cricket is to me, it can never be limited to five weeks or even five years. Working at cricket’s very highest level is a lifetime passion for me and so this is a wonderful opportunity to get back where I belong. At this level of coaching you need to know how to manage your bowlers and, most of all, how to motivate and inspire them. I can do this with England.”
The implications for Kevin Shine, England’s low-key and beleaguered current bowling coach, could be severe.
”I’ll be working closely with Kevin,” Donald says diplomatically. ”He will tell me what he wants doing, and where he needs help most, and I’ll take it from there.”
But Donald does not need any prompting when asked if he would like to turn a brief consultancy into a full-time posting.
”Oh ja!” he says at home in Bloemfontein, with the same blunt intent he showed when taking 330 Test wickets. ”Definitely! The ECB are testing the water but if everything goes well we’ll see what they say. If they offer me something permanent I’ll definitely take it.”
Since the departure of Troy Cooley, who coached a formidable attack that did so much to win back the Ashes in 2005, England’s fast bowlers have looked in desperate need of direction, management and inspiration — the three key attributes Donald stresses.
He is, again, disarmingly honest when asked if he hopes to assume Cooley’s wide-ranging remit. ”I would, there’s no doubt. At first this will be more a hands-on approach with the England team but Troy went round the counties and scouted talent and that would suit me perfectly.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) might insist that England’s Test bowlers are still being instructed primarily by Shine — but even an hour in Donald’s company is enough to make it easy to believe that his will be the dominant voice over the next five weeks.
Despite last Saturday’s destruction of the depleted West Indies in conditions ideally suited to Ryan Sidebottom, Donald is emphatic that recent lessons should not be forgotten.
”As surprised as I was by his selection, Sidebottom bowled beautifully. I’m really pleased for him because I knew Ryan as a toddler when I played club cricket in Bloemfontein with his dad [Arnie]. But we need to look at the wider picture because England have had lots of problems since winning the Ashes in 2005.
”Their intensity was the key to that series. But it’s been lost and the real venom they had then has gone from England’s bowling attack.
”No disrespect to the guys out there now, but you had a great quartet in 2005. Matthew Hoggard, a model of consistency who swings the ball, matched with Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones bowling at 140km/h-plus. The Australian batsmen had not come up against an attack that pressurised them with such pace and aggression.
”England were desperate to win and I was really surprised they lost their venom so quickly. As soon as the Ashes ended they took their foot off the gas and instead of becoming the number one team in the world they stagnated. I compare it to England wining the Rugby World Cup. They were too busy patting themselves on the back rather than moving up another level. It was the same with the cricket.”
Harmison’s decline epitomises an English malaise.
”Obviously [new England coach] Peter Moores is concerned his main strike bowler is not hacking it right now. It is a real concern — even if I was encouraged when watching Harmison at Headingley. He showed how he lifts the team when he gets a few wickets, but we need him to start doing that in his opening spell. He needs more miles in his legs and some words in his ear about how good he is.
”I’m convinced that by the time India arrive in July he’ll be firing.” — Â