Sri Lanka rope in Allan Donald as bowling consultant for Champions Trophy

Sri Lanka has roped in the services of former South African legendary fast bowler Allan Donald as a bowling consultant ahead of their preparations for the Champions Trophy scheduled to be played in England from June 1 to 18. The board announced their decision on Sunday and Donald expected to join the team in few days time.

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 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.

Donald was an exceptional bowler during his heydays and his nickname ‘The White Lightning’ was synonymous with the way he bowled. He extracted steep bounce from even unresponsive pitches and bowled with venom. He was undoubtedly South Africa’s best bowler during that era. Apart from limited overs cricket, Donald was a champion bowler even in the longest format of the game. In 72 Tests, he finished with 330 wickets at an impressive average of 22.

Sri Lanka hasn’t been the dominant side which they were a few years ago due to the retirement of so many big names and finds themselves in a tough situation ahead of the Champions trophy. They recently won T20 series in South Africa and Australia but it wouldn’t be the same in a 50 overs format. They failed to put on impressive performances through a consistent period of time which might well be their drawback as the tournament approaches.