Allan Donald believes Sri Lanka has the ability to lift the Champions Trophy

Former South African legendary pacer Allan Donald who has been roped in as an interim bowling consultant of Sri Lanka for the upcoming Champions Trophy in England believes that the island nation under the able leadership of Angelo Mathews has the ability to lift the Champions Trophy. The 8 nation competition will commence from 1st June and the final will be played on 19th April.

Donald who was in line to take up the assistant coach’s role for the English County side Kent has agreed to release him for two months tenure with the pace brigade of the island nation. Donald was a champion bowler for South Africa and finished his career with 272 ODI wickets. He has done short coaching stints earlier too and was with the English and the Proteas side as a bowling consultant.

“The Sri Lankan attack has what it takes to win the tournament. Sri Lanka has a lot of skills. Lot of leadership with the ball… what is there to be scared of?” Donald was quoted as saying by Sport 24. He further added that he will be looking forward to working with the Lankan boys closely and assess their individual goals during his two months tenure.

The former fast bowler is expected to join the Sri Lankan team at Pallekelle International Stadium from May 9-16 when they will play Scotland in 2 ODI’s followed by practise games against New Zealand and Australia. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is placed in Group B in the Champions Trophy and will meet South Africa in their opening fixture against the mighty Proteas.

During his heydays Donald used to torment star-studded batting line-up which earned him the nickname ‘The White Lightning’. He has the ability to extract steep bounce even from unresponsive pitches and had a zip in his bowling. Besides bagging 272 ODI wickets, Donald was an exceptional bowler in the longest format too finishing with 330 wickets at an average of 22.