White Lightning: the zinc-smeared quick who spearheaded South Africa's return
Allan Donald was supposed to be twelfth man on his first-class debut, called up ten minutes before the toss. Six years later he took five wickets in South Africa's first ever one-day international, and his cream-daubed face became the image of a cricket nation walking back onto the world stage.
Born on 20 October 1966, Donald grew up playing football, rugby and cricket, and once ripped through Grey College in Bloemfontein, his uncle's school, with 9 for 16. Selection for Orange Free State followed in 1984, but a groin injury cost him chances at Nuffield Week and a place in the national schools side; he settled for being twelfth man for South Africa Schools in 1984 and 1985. His Currie Cup debut came in November 1985, aged 19, as a late replacement for the injured Corrie van Zyl, with captain Chris Broad summoning him minutes before play. He managed one wicket, Jimmy Cook.
County cricket shaped him. At Warwickshire he took 14 wickets in the 1989 NatWest Trophy, more than anyone. In 1995 the club won both the NatWest Trophy and the County Championship while he claimed 89 wickets, despite having been told that season would be his last so they could sign Brian Lara. When Lara withdrew, Donald got two more years.
South Africa's readmission put him in the spotlight. On 10 November 1991 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, in the country's first competitive international in 22 years, he took five wickets including Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri. His 13 wickets at the 1992 World Cup led the team. Test cricket began for him on 18 April 1992 in Barbados, the country's first Test against the West Indies; he bagged a pair but took six wickets. On Boxing Day that year he took 12 against India. In England in 1994 he became the first South African in 39 years since Hugh Tayfield to take five at Lord's.
Sharing the new ball with Shaun Pollock from 1996-97 until retiring in 2002, he reached number one in the Test rankings in 1998, peaking at 895 points the following year. Across four World Cups he took 38 wickets, second for his country behind Imran Tahir. Coaching followed, including a Kent assistant role from 2018 to 2019, and the ICC Hall of Fame inducted him in 2019.
Source: Allan Donald
