Allan Donald will preach a 'go hard or go home' message to his troupe of quicks when he takes over as Australia’s fast bowling coach for the three-Test tour of Sri Lanka later this year.
Donald, the former South African pace ace who says he would "love" to stay on with the Australia team at the completion of his interim stint in Sri Lanka, brings to the role a wealth of experience in subcontinental conditions as well as a reputation as one of the game’s most feared fast bowlers.
And he has a simple message for those charged with carrying Australia’s fast bowling stocks on Sri Lankan pitches that have historically offered little to encourage seam bowlers, and in a region where Australian Test teams have struggled to perform consistently.
Over the past decade, Australia have won just three of the 17 Tests they have played on the Asian continent (including Sri Lanka and the 2013 series against Pakistan in the UAE) with two of those victories coming against strugglers Bangladesh. The other came in the first Test of their previous tour to Sri Lanka in 2011 at Galle, with the final two Tests of that series ending in draws as the home team's batters dug in on lifeless pitches where wickets were hard-earned.
But Donald, who in addition to working with the South Africa team from 2011-15 has overseen the bowling program at IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore where Mitchell Starc has played, says the role of pace bowlers on flat, subcontinent pitches is to keep operating at full throttle.
His message will be that short, sharp spells rather than containment bowling is the secret to success in unhelpful conditions and that – in keeping with the philosophy held by Bupa Support Staff Head Coach Darren Lehmann – velocity is crucial to shaping a bowling team’s innings.
"When Bob Woolmer was our (South Africa’s) coach he used to say that when you got the ball in hand it was always about bowling for four or five overs and trying to make an impact through that pure aggression and velocity," Donald told cricket.com.au from India.
"You can’t be allowed, in Sri Lanka, to bowl within yourself. "If you bowl 150 (km/h) you can’t be allowed to go down to the 130s, or even touching 140. "If you’re that sort of (genuinely fast) bowler you’re going to bowl shorter spells but you’re trying to make an impact all the time by being very creative with your thinking first of all, and having a licence from your skipper to be able to do that. "To be able to create that pressure with that pace all day takes some skill, and obviously a great deal of fitness and stamina. "And to have an attack like that doesn’t come easy. It’s a matter of attitude to be able to sustain that throughout the day, let alone the five days."
(cricket.com.au)
