My paceman will match class of '05, insists Donald

[King]

Cricket: Allan Donald, given until the end of the Twenty20 World Championship in September to work further with England's fast bowlers, wants his emerging charges to 'take the roof off English cricket'More... My paceman will match class of '05, insists Donald By PAUL NEWMAN - More by this author » Last updated at 08:10am on 4th July 2007 Comments Allan Donald, given until the end of the Twenty20 World Championship in September to work further with England's fast bowlers, wants his emerging charges to "take the roof off English cricket". Donald, whose "trial" as a fast bowling consultant was extended yesterday, believes he has a group of seamers with the potential to emulate the fabled quartet of Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones, who did so much to win the Ashes in 2005. The only question now is whether he will be around long enough to see the completion of the maturing process of England's next generation. The fact that Donald could talk in such glowing terms about Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom ahead of today's second NatWest one-day international at Edgbaston shows the extent of the progress that has been made since he arrived just before the Headingley Test. His addition to the coaching staff is clearly a delicate matter for the ECB who, as expected, stopped short of making his appointment a full-time one and must decide before the end of September whether they can justify two fast bowling coaches where once there was just the hugely successful Troy Cooley. Kevin Shine replaced Cooley last year but had a difficult winter and whatever attempts are made by the ECB to insist that he was never intending to tour every winter with England, Donald's arrival is an admission that something extra was needed to cure a misfiring fast bowling contingent. Since the South African joined up with England, Harmison has put much of the misery of the winter behind him. After working intensely with Donald at Old Trafford during the third Test, he bowled with his old pace and hostility in a 17-over spell against the West Indies at Durham. Then Plunkett, embarrassingly erratic before being banished to county cricket, was recalled for the limited overs matches and spent two extended sessions working with Donald before the two Twenty20 matches last week. After these sessions he looked both relaxed and penetrative in the first international at Lord's on Sunday. Donald even appears to have brought a smile to Anderson's face, something that was beyond Cooley. How has he done it? "I've tried to create a situation where the guys can just go out and bowl without worrying about technical issues," said Donald. "We want to bring the enjoyment factor back and they have responded very well. Peter Moores is someone who likes to see passion and intent in practice and I've always been the kind of person who prepares that way." The respect which is earned by taking more than 300 Test wickets is clearly an advantage for Donald - as is being young enough, at 40, to still be remembered by the current crop. "I haven't been doing all the talking," insists a coach who, it is said, is as adept at man-management as he is technical advice. "The guys have asked a lot of questions and I've shared a lot of moments with them, like the battles I had with Mike Atherton." Donald, still looking slightly wrong in an England tracksuit, hopes his position will become permanent. "I'd like it to be full-time, my passion is to work with guys at this level but for now it's a privilege to be given this opportunity to work with the England team," he said. Allan Donald: Teaching the ways of the fast bowler "England had a good crop of bowlers before I came here and now I've worked with them I feel they can move forward and take the roof off English cricket." Ian Bell, back on home turf, had a chance to discuss with Warwickshire officials his controversial omission from the Friends Provident Trophy semi-final defeat by Hampshire. The match came the day after the fourth Test ended and even though the ECB laid on a helicopter to take Bell and Kevin Pietersen to the Rose Bowl, Warwickshire stuck with the team who had taken them to the last four. "It hurt," said Bell. "Of course it did. I'm a Warwickshire lad and I want to play for them but it wasn't my decision. "I've been told I'm definitely wanted here and I've got nothing on my mind other than to play for England and Warwickshire in the future." No chance then, it seems, for Shane Warne's cheeky 'come and play for Hampshire' plea to Bell via his newspaper column to work. Hail lashed Edgbaston yesterday, raising doubts as to whether today's match will take place. If it does, West Indies will promote Shivnarine Chanderpaul from five to three. England are likely to be unchanged, even though Sidebottom has recovered from the virus which kept him out of Sunday's match.

[King]

The fact that Donald could talk in such glowing terms about Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom

That line up doesn't impress much. It's all well and good to have a good one against the likes of WI but to replicate the Ashes performance these guys should bowl against someone like Australia for a reality check. I'm more than sure this bowling lineup will not be able to bowl out Australia once let alone twice. I'll be quite happy if this line up is chosen to play against India :wink_smile:

[King Tendulkar]

One thing I like about Donald is a bit of advice he always gives, as Plunkett and Anderson was quoted saying. He tells them whatever lines and lengths you are bowling, hit those areas hard with aggression. I think similar message needs to be drummed in to our bowlers

[Chandan]

Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom

Isn't this the second string attack of England?

[ludhianvi]

it seems like their first string ODI bowling attack. In tests, they have a better bowling attack with Harmison, Hoggard

[CC1981]

Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom

Alan, here are your charges' latest performance record: Anderson : 10-3-78-1 Sidebottom: 9-1-56-2 Broad : 10-0-49-2 Cumulative : 29-4-183-5

[Gambit]

I have a lot of respect for AD and am sh!t scared by what he is saying. That guy is fully capable of getting the Harmless one bowling like the GBH version circa 2004-2005. God help us if that happens.

[THX_1138]

I have a lot of respect for AD and am sh!t scared by what he is saying. That guy is fully capable of getting the Harmless one bowling like the GBH version circa 2004-2005. God help us if that happens.

yep, but Grievious Body Harmison wont be bowling in the Twenty20 cup since he is not considered ideal for limited overs cricket. besides in limited over games he has a tendency to lose his radar.

[King]

Harmison retired from limited overs cricket a while ago.

[King]

This is not to say Donald is not a good bowling coach but merely stating the fact that the coach's contribution in Cricket is very trivial. After the first Twenty20 Donald was hailed as a super star by the ECB and the bowlers. What have we got now :

 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/8608.html"]JM Anderson[/URL] 10[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 51 2 5.10 (1nb, 1w)   
 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/19264.html"]LE Plunkett[/URL] 10[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 59 3 5.90 (1nb, 4w)   
 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/10617.html"]SCJ Broad[/URL] 9[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 71 0 7.88 (1nb, 3w)   
 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/18655.html"]MS Panesar[/URL] 6[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 28 0 4.66 
  
 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/16932.html"]AD Mascarenhas[/URL] 8[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 28 0 3.50 
  
 [URL="http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/player/10772.html"]PD Collingwood[/URL] 7[img=http://img.cricinfo.com/spacer.gif] 0 41 0 5.85 

[gator]

Donald wasnt really a technical bowler... he will flop like Younis... i am not sure, if he can make as big a difference as someone like Lillee can...

[King]

If you had heard the commentary and the camera pointing towards Donald after every wicket fell in the last test match you could have been mistaken Donald for the captain of England cricket team. Such is the hype about coaches these days.