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Allan Donald, the newly appointed pace bowling coach of Bangladesh used to be affectionately called ‘The White Lightning’ for his lightning quick deliveries.
Although not as fast as Donald, the U-19 World Cup winning pacer of Bangladesh, Shoriful Islam, is no short of aggression when he takes on the batters.
Probably for this reason, Donald picked the young fast bowler ahead of established stars like Mustafizur Rahman or Taskin Ahmed when asked about which Bangladeshi fast bowler he was looking forward to working with the most.
Replying to a question of the journalists, the Protea great said, “Shoriful Islam (looking forward to mentor). The tall left arm pacer has huge potential. I already talked with Russel (Domingo) about him and watched some of his footage.”
“Every team had a fast bowler who symbolised the team. Australia had Glenn McGrath, Pakistan had Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Yunus. It is difficult to pick who will be that figure for Bangladesh, but my bet is on Shoriful.”
As per stats from the past two years, Shoriful hasn’t been behind Mustafiz or Taskin, even performed better than them in a few instances.
Mustafiz is virtually out of the Test scene, playing only one match in two years where he picked two wickets.
During this time Shoriful played three matches, took 6 wickets with an average of 56.16. Taskin played 5 tests and took 16 wickets with an average of 38.99.
In One-day format, Shoriful took 10 scalps in 7 matches with an economy of 5.16 and an average of 27.40 Mustafiz played 6 games, took 10 wickets with an economy of 4.64 and average of 23.20. Taskin played 6, took 11 wickets, also under an economy of 5(4.45) and average of 4.45).
Shoriful has been the most impressive in T20Is, dismissing 25 batters in 19 games under an economy of 7.
Meanwhile, the cutter master took 29 scalps in 22 matches under an economy of 7 and Dhaka express took 11 wickets from 14 matches with an economy of 8.04.
Considering these stats, Allan Donald might not be wrong in assessing the potential of the 20-year old fast bowler.
Allan Donald's Cricket Career Profile
Bangladesh's national team was without a fast bowling coach after Ottis Gibson's departure in January this year. Finally, Allan Donald has been hired as his replacement.
International Career
Allan Donald appeared in 72 Tests and took 330 wickets with an average of 22.25. His best bowling figure was 8/71 in the Test. Donald averaged 21.78 in ODI cricket, taking 272 wickets in 164 appearances. His best bowling figure was 6/23 in ODIs.
Coaching stints
Donald is also a high-profile pace bowling coach, landing the pace bowling consultant role of the England national team as his first big break.
He served as a coach with Warwickshire County Cricket Club alongside Ashley Giles. They worked together to help the team win the County Championship Second Division in 2008.
He also managed Zimbabwean club Mountaineers in 2010 and was the New Zealand national side's bowling coach during the 2011 World Cup.
Donald’s homecoming in the South African National team happened in July 2011, in the role of a bowling coach where he served till 2015.
In IPL, he coached the Royal Challengers Bangalore.