Allan Donald reported for duty as a consulting coach for Free State Cricket and Knights this week.

Donald will be based in Bloemfontein for the duration of October to help VKB Knights and Free State Cricket fast bowlers. ‘Home will always be home, so to come back here to assist for a month is a great feeling. To be back with your people and back to where your cricket started is a lovely feeling,’ commented the Bloemfontein-born fast-bowling great.

Besides working with VKB Knights and the senior provincial team, he will be conducting coaching clinics for all fast bowlers who are going to represent Free State Cricket at various youth national weeks.

‘I look forward to the two bowling clinics that we are going to do with different age-group fast bowlers, I’m very excited to see what kind of talent we have in the schools system.

‘Helping people is a long process and I have a month to make an impact, but it’s the small things that help change an individual’s mindset of what they are capable of.

‘I am not very big on technique, I’m very big on the mental side of the game because bowling is much of an attitude. It’s a hard thing to do, it’s a tough thing to do, and I know what kind of attitude is needed to execute good bowling,’ commented Donald.

‘White Lightning’, as he was famously nicknamed for his ferocious pace, claimed 1,216 first-class wickets and 684 List A wickets. The ICC Hall of Famer is also ranked fourth on the list of most Test wickets by a South African in 72 matches for his country. He held the record for most wickets by a South African in the Cricket World Cup (38), which stood for 15 years and was broken by Imran Tahir at the recently concluded tournament.

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