Donald ducks, Langeveldt 'interested'

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

IF Charl Langeveldt is being lined up to replace Allan Donald as SA’s bowling coach he doesn’t know it yet.

“I haven’t had any discussions in that regard,” Langeveldt said on Tuesday. “I was at the World Cup purely as a consultant and now I’m back with the Cobras.”

Would he be keen on the job? “I would certainly be interested.”

Was Donald’s decision to duck, which Cricket SA (CSA) announced on Tuesday, known during or immediately after the World Cup?

“The first I heard about it was (Tuesday) morning,” Langeveldt said.

Langeveldt served as SA’s death bowling consultant during West Indies’ tour last summer and at the World Cup, which for SA ended in Auckland on March 24 in their semi-final defeat by New Zealand.

His appointment as Donald’s successor would surprise many - not least the SA team, some of whom viewed his involvement as an opportunity for him to gain experience at the top level rather than as a grooming exercise.

But the fact is Langeveldt was a proven swing bowler at international level who has passed on his knowledge effectively to the modern and successful generation of Cobras bowlers.

However, according to sources close to the SA dressingroom, Langeveldt’s arrival made Donald reconsider his future with the team.

CSA’s move in September to extend Russell Domingo’s tenure as head coach until April, 2016 but to not lengthen the other coaches’ contracts may also have helped Donald make up his mind.

The selection of Vernon Philander ahead of Kyle Abbott for the World Cup semi-final, which Times Media has learnt was forced on the team by CSA’s board as a transformation imperative, could also have prompted Donald’s resignation.

Or we could choose to believe a CSA statement on Tuesday that quoted Donald as saying: “I have had some time to reflect after the World Cup and have come to the conclusion that the time is right to move on.

“The last four years have been the best of my life and being involved with the Proteas in the ... World Cup was a goal I had set my sights on.”

Domingo called Donald a “professional with great insight and knowledge of the game” and said he could “be proud of the fruits of his labour over the last few years”.

Currently in India as the bowling coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Donald has previously coached New Zealand and served as a consultant with England. He has also coached at franchise and county level in Zimbabwe and England.

Donald was poached from New Zealand by Gary Kirsten when the latter was appointed SA coach in June, 2011.

As such, Donald was an important factor in SA’s rise to the top of the test rankings. Aggression and intensity are his coaching watchwords, just like they were during his playing days.

Donald leaves behind a SA test attack that features two bowlers - Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander - among the top 10 in the rankings while Morne Morkel lurks at No. 11.

It’s cold comfort for South Africans considering what happened at the World Cup, but SA are the only team with three bowlers in the top 10 in one-day terms - Imran Tahir, Steyn and Morkel.

CSA do not have to appoint a successor in a hurry: SA’s next engagement is in Bangladesh in July.