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Donald, me and the battle of Trent Bridge

By Michael Atherton

2 August 1998


'CHANGE of bowling. Right arm over the wicket.'' What umpire Steve Dunne doesn't say is that it's going to be quick. Very quick. It's Sunday evening, third session, and South Africa's great fast bowler Allan Donald is back for the crucial spell of the game. A cacophony of encouragement from slips and the effervescent Jonty Rhodes. ``Get us one now A D''. Got to see this through. Do it yourself. Don't leave it to anybody else.

Now he is charging in. He looks pumped up. Head still, stand tall, play straight. It's a loosener, short and wide, cash in. Don't really connect but the pace of the ball sends it past Gary Kirsten at gully and Rhodes at point. Four runs. Feeling good. Survived the over.

``Coming around the wicket,'' and again this bland, rather anodyne statement from umpire Dunne signals a new challenge. Plenty of short balls on the way. Be brave. Careful, too, of the ball angling across the stumps. Play for your off stump. It's short and at the hip, tuck it away for a single. Let Nasser Hussain take some heat - as Geoffrey Boycott said, the best way to play fast bowling is ``from t'other end''. Trouble is they've got one at the other end.

Next over and the barrage begins. It's short, quick and at me. I've got in an almighty tangle. Big, big appeal. Not out. He looks upset, they all look upset. He says something (in English if they want you to hear, in Afrikaans if not). It's in English. The crowd's too noisy, can't hear. Just keep staring, the bowler's got to turn away first. Compose yourself. It's short again: another tangle and this time the ball drops short of the fielder. Got to take some blows here. Short again, clips left shoulder, quickest ball yet. A quick look at the speedometer shows 90 mph! Somebody's turned the radiator up - it's hot out here! End of the over. Survived. Abuse from the fielders as they walk in between overs. To be expected. This is Test cricket. Give some back.

``Gerry, short leg. Paul, leg gully.'' Hansie Cronje in Jardinesque mode signals the beginning of another over. Doesn't take a genius to know what he's going to bowl. Memories of Sabina Park here. Don't let him bombard you now. No fielders out, half a bat on it and it's runs. It's short, hook, top edge, but it's safely over Paul Adams for two. Experience is helping me here. Been through it before. Adams now drops back to deep square. Huge gap behind short leg. Clip off the hip for one, get down the other end and get Nasser on strike! It's full and across him. Snick. Mark Boucher's dropped it! Big let-off for Nasser and us. End of the over and all the South Africans commiserate with Boucher - good teamwork. They are a tough and united team, and not beaten yet, not by a long chalk. Donald runs from fine leg to Boucher - touching moment.

Talked to Nasser in the middle. ``Work hard now, Nass. Forget the last ball.'' The next over and it's possibly Donald's last. Keep concentrating now. No mistakes now. No risks. Man back so don't hook. Sway and duck and play for your off stump. Adams is loosening up. Survived the over. ``Change of bowling, left arm over and through.'' Survived the spell. Don't relax now though, keep concentrating . . .

But in the end that battle was only a small part, albeit an important part, of what was a magnificent Test match in which an assortment of characters and cricketers held the stage. Much has been written of my joust with Donald: some negative things, of umpiring decisions, of batsmen not walking, and sledging. Every person, however, that I've spoken to has seen it in a positive light and said it was some of the most compelling cricket they have seen. Enough said.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Allan Donald. 'Great' is a much overused word but I'm sure he fits comfortably into that category - all pace, fire and heart. I learnt very early on in Test cricket from the Australians to leave behind what happens on the field and, at the end of it all, we shook hands, said well played and shared a beer. As indeed have both teams this summer.

The next day could never have matched the intensity of the previous evening and so it proved as we eased to our victory target. We still had to do the hard yards but the sting had been drawn the night before. Of course it would have been nice to have completed a hundred, but Alec Stewart had been sent out with instructions from Angus Fraser to thwart it, so as to keep his man-of- the-match award safe. The jealousy of a trundler!

Driving to Trent Bridge before the match I remembered a conversation I had had with Boycott after the drawn match in Johannesburg three years ago. ``You'll win the next match in Durban, you know!'' When I asked why, he said: ``History has a habit of punishing those that don't take their chances.''

As it happened rain ruined that finely poised Test match in Durban, but it was those same thoughts that filled my mind going to Nottingham and at the moment of victory. I felt the pace of South Africa's batting on the second day at Old Trafford and their failure to finish us off had really given us a life from which we breathed new life into the Test series at Trent Bridge.

Certainly now the summer has taken a turn for the better. After the disillusionment that was the third Test, cricket is all the rage again. Even those thrifty Tykes have been moved to buy tickets in their droves.

It is good also to be back in the runs and to repay the faith that two people in particular have shown in me. David Lloyd who, in his own way, said: ``You've got to get through the turnstiles early to see you play!'' after another early season failure. And Graham Gooch who sent me, in many ways, a moving letter during those dog days saying I had worn the three lions with distinction before and would surely do so again.

And now finally the team stands on the brink of some success. Players of my era, the Stewarts, Frasers and Hicks for example, have played much cricket for England with little success against the 'big boys'. This week's match will be a massive Test match for us.

And there's 'Freddie' Flintoff, pitching up for the first time, straight in at first slip, trundling a few seamers and having a merry swish at Allan Donald, as though he was playing for St Anne's in the Northern League. I can only hope winning becomes more of a habit for him than it was for me at the start of an England career. It is important that it does.


Source: The Electronic Telegraph
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Date-stamped : 02 Aug1998 - 10:18