Allan Donald

[Beleg]

Why aren't there more Alan Donald fans?

[archie mac]

Why aren't there more Alan Donald fans?

I am a big fan, one of the best I have ever watched

[silentstriker]

I love Alan Donald, one of the best even though I caught only the tail end of his career.

[JBH001]

I rate AD as one of the best ever - and was lucky enought to see him in his prime.

He, Waqar, and Wasim are the fast bowlers I most enjoyed watching in the 90s.

[Perm]

I was never fortunate enough to see him play, but I have seen a video of that incident between him and Michael Atherton and it will stick in my mind forever.

[Richard]

Allan Donald is my favourite seam-bowler, bar none. Even Dominic Cork and Angus Fraser I didn't enjoy seeing have success as much as him.

I only became truly aware of him in 1998, but in that year and the following he was quite patently the best seamer around, even at the age of 32 and 33. That is quite amazing.

And he was rather good for quite some time before that, too.

Should get Hingston in this thread, too, obv...

[jot1]

I've been a big fan of his until he made some very negative comments about us during the World Cup. I felt he should have been cheering us on and, maybe, even giving good advice.
As a bowler there are very few his equal, so in that respect I will always rate him very highly.

[Prince EWS]

Allan Donald is my favourite seam-bowler, bar none. Even Dominic Cork and Angus Fraser I didn't enjoy seeing have success as much as him.

I only became truly aware of him in 1998, but in that year and the following he was quite patently the best seamer around, even at the age of 32 and 33. That is quite amazing.

And he was rather good for quite some time before that, too.

Should get Hingston in this thread, too, obv...

Slightly off topic, but regarding Cork, I was "fortunate" enough to see highlights of him bowling during the Sky rain delay fill-in (which was ridiculously shown on Foxtel despite the coverage being delayed 4 hours..) and he didn't look anything like the medium-pace nibbler that people made out. He was reasonably tall and he seemed to be getting a lot more pace than he's been given credit for on this forum.

[BoyBrumby]

Slightly off topic, but regarding Cork, I was "fortunate" enough to see highlights of him bowling during the Sky rain delay fill-in (which was ridiculously shown on Foxtel despite the coverage being delayed 4 hours..) and he didn't look anything like the medium-pace nibbler that people made out. He was reasonably tall and he seemed to be getting a lot more pace that he's been given credit for on this forum.

He was quick enough (at least before his injury) for batsmen not to take liberties, but unfortunately he used to get a bit carried away sometimes and tried to bounce & york everyone out which made him far less effective than he could've been if he'd bowled more of his natural length.

WRT AAD I can't help but think he'd have been more fondly remembered if he'd done the decent thing like every other saffie seems to & played for us. ()

[jot1]

WRT AAD I can't help but think he'd have been more fondly remembered if he'd done the decent thing like every other saffie seems to & played for us. ()

Well, at least he's willing to teach your lot, so think fondly of him, anyway.

[Richard]

Slightly off topic, but regarding Cork, I was "fortunate" enough to see highlights of him bowling during the Sky rain delay fill-in (which was ridiculously shown on Foxtel despite the coverage being delayed 4 hours..) and he didn't look anything like the medium-pace nibbler that people made out. He was reasonably tall and he seemed to be getting a lot more pace that he's been given credit for on this forum.

He was quick enough (at least before his injury) for batsmen not to take liberties, but unfortunately he used to get a bit carried away sometimes and tried to bounce & york everyone out which made him far less effective than he could've been if he'd bowled more of his natural length.

I agree with DB that he often overdid (still does, in fact) the short stuff but what injury do you speak of? To my knowledge Cork never had a serious injury in his career until 2003, when he (sadly) played half the season with a chipped bone in his ankle. Not sure what you're on with trying too hard to York everyone - the Yorker is one of his best balls and has earnt him some of his best and most spectacular dismissals. Can't see that he overdid it at all - if anything, later on he didn't really use it enough.

And regarding his speed, not sure how much you (more @ Rob now) saw of him back in t' day, but I think it's a real shame there were no accurate speedguns in 1995. He was never Donald-style pace or anything, that much is obvious, as even with Donald at 32 in 1998 he was outpacing all the Englishmen. But he was still mostly in the early 80s (late 70s at the slowest) (mph speak obv) in 2000 and I wonder how many people on this forum (esp non-Brits) have formed inaccurate impressions of his speeds. His speeds are probably little different to, for instance, Mohammad Asif or Glenn McGrath (for most of his career - remember he was still occasionally hitting 90mph in WC99).

[silentstriker]

Also loved his trash talk. Got into the head of Dravid and took his wicket, which is hard to do, and which I admire immensly.

[Richard]

What, Corky? To when do you refer?

[aussie]

not enough South Africa supporters on this forum.

[FRAZ]

I dont like him as much as I should have !!