Allan Donald has lambasted South Africa’s bowling attack for their below-par first Test performance against England at Lord’s.
Warwickshire’s bowling coach was dismayed at the manner in which the Proteas bowling attack allowed England to make 593 for eight declared.
“With the exception of Morne Morkel, the bowlers simply never asked enough questions of the England batting line-up in their innings,” wrote Donald in his column in the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Sondag.
“It was as if they were all nervous and while they may have done well in world cricket in the last year or so, what we saw this week was far from their best.”
Donald, who recently worked as a bowling coach with England, also suggested that it was the South African bowlers’ strategy, rather than the Lord’s pitch, which was to blame.
“All the pace bowlers bowled about a foo-and-a-half too short and Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini both weren’t consistent enough to trouble England in their innings,” he said.
Donald also admitted that he fears for Ntini on this tour. “I’m really worried about him because he is a shadow of the bowler who took ten wickets at Lord’s last time out,” he warned. “I also predicted that this will be the biggest test of Dale Steyn’s career and he didn’t play well under pressure.”
Donald also had some scathing words about spin bowler Paul Harris, calling for the Proteas to rethink his selection.
“This is the third Test where he has let more than 100 runs in an innings through and while I don’t expect Paul to bowl teams out, he should at least help in applying the pressure for the bowling attack to attack from the other side.
“He is an important cog in the bowling attack and needs to function as such.”
