OTD। One of South Africa’s greatest bowlers, Allan Donald was born today in 1966

South African cricket history is filled with some greatest cricketers, be it the batters, all-rounders or some of the all-time greatest bowlers. The list also included the former Proteas bowling legend Allan Donald, the ‘white lightning’, who was born on this day 57 years back in the year 1966. 

One of the greatest pacers of his time, Allan Donald made his first international appearance in the Kolkata ODI between India and South Africa on November 10, 1991; it was also the first ODI of the three-match series between India and South Africa. The then-25-year-old youngster, Donald stunned the entire cricketing world by announcing his arrival in the international arena in a convincing style. 

He claimed an amazing five-wicket haul in his debut match, scalping 5 wickets at the cost of just 29 runs in his 8.4 overs, with an outstanding economy rate of 3.34. However, India lost the match by a close margin of 3 wickets after chasing down the target of 178 runs in 40.4 overs courtesy of Sachin Tendulkar’s brilliant 62-run knock, but Allan Donald also attracted the headlines as he shared the ‘Player of the Match award with former legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar. 

One of the most successful South African bowling greats

Donald also became one of the very few cricketers who won the ‘Player of the Match award in their debut international match. 

Following that, Allan Donald never looked back in his illustrious 11-year-long international career. He represented the rainbow nation in 72 Tests and 164 ODIs, scalping 330 Test wickets, with amazing numbers of 20 five-wicket hauls and 11 four-wicket hauls; other than this, he also scalped a total of 10 wickets in a Test match on 3 occasions. 

He was also equally dangerous in the limited-overs cricket as he picked 272 ODI Wickets, in 162 innings of the 164 matches he played. In these matches, Donald claimed 2 five-wicket hauls, alongside 11 four-wicket hauls. 

The former bowling legend is currently active in the role of bowling coach for Bangladesh in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. 

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