CAPE TOWN (South Africa) - There was probably far more interest in Allan Donald's ``gentle training session'' at Newlands today than the outcome of the Gary Kirsten benefit day-night slogs. Which is perhaps the way it should be.

After all, AD has been a notable absentee since the side returned from New Zealand yet his resting up in the miserable, wet midlands as the World Cup approaches has been beneficial. Resting the troublesome stomach muscle injury has been part of his bit of R&R in England with his wife Tina.

Donald motored in at fairly sharp speeds on occasions, getting the ball to jump a little on the slow conditions where getting the sort of bounce to disturb the batsmen I not often easy. The tall, athletic fast bowler gave what he thought a little gentle exercise, his skipper Hansie Cronje thought it was an 85 percent effort, which was not too bad at all.

He is not the sort of bowler you would want to face too often unless certain safety precautions had been taken. And he let the ball fly around a bit.

As he saw it, the key to the exercise was to get his confidence back as well as rhythm and pace, which also proved that ``white men can also bowl - very fast.''

It is easy enough to advance this argument as Pakistan's lightning quick Shoaib Akhtar is now seen as the fastest bowler to play in the five week event starting on May 14. As the new prince of the leather, claims are being made about Shoaib which we first saw in South Africa 14 months ago. He may be quick, and have that nasty Waqar Younis habit delivering of in-swinging yorker, but can he bowl as impressively in England as he did in South Africa?

Donald now has developed the sort of cunning to support his pace on the slower England surfaces and this could make him more dangerous than Shoaib, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Glenn McGrath by the time May 15 arrives and South Africa play India.

There was also some interesting cameos in the Gary Kirsten benefit match with Gary and his country's captain, Hansie Cronje, opening the batting. The thumped the ball around but it was not until Daryll Cullinan was joined by Shaun Pollock that the Kirsten (jnr) XI got moving again.

Kirsten (G) and Cronje added 66 for the first wicket and the remainder did little else until Cullinan found a partner in Pollock. At 116 for four at the end of the 28th over, the Kirsten XI was in danger of not making a meaningful target to defend. Cullinan stepped up and scored an impressive 68, but substantial partnerships were just not there to build a bigger score.

It may have been a practice match for the World Cup but coach Bob Woolmer would no doubt have his views of what needs fixing and why in some of the batting areas; some of it was decidedly shaky with run-scoring emphasis in the wrong areas.

In fact 208 for five did not seem at all a defendable target even in a 45 overs match on a slower than normal pitch.

Nicky Boje then showed why he has the ability to become South Africa's top limited-overs international spinner ahead of Paul Adams. Boje's two for 27 in seven overs was a solid effort which also had the batsmen guessing.

As for the rest it was an entertaining slogs for keep the crowd busy to the end of an early, if chilly evening. It was a good training session, and from the two pitches already cut, satisfying everyone is far from easy.

Gary's older brother Peter, who captained the ``older'' side did a good job in restricting the G Kirsten XI but were always going to be short and there was some really steady bowling with Boje giving of the better displays of the season.