Cricket: Donald milestone's sad side

By RICHARD BOOCK

BLOEMFONTEIN - Allan Donald's great day was tinged with sadness.

The 15th cricketer in the world to take 300 test wickets was engulfed by friends, family and supporters, while Bloemfontein's prized Eland tank let loose a series of earth-shuddering rounds after he reached his milestone yesterday morning.

But one of his best mates, disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje, was nowhere to be seen.

Donald sparked the celebrations when he trapped New Zealand tailender Shayne O'Connor in front to take his third wicket of the test, and immediately saluted his wife, Tina, and their two children before acknowledging a delighted crowd.

He said afterwards that his first reaction after dismissing O'Connor was one of relief, followed by the disappointment of not being able to share his celebrations with Cronje, who has been banned for life by the United Cricket Board of South Africa for providing information to bookmakers.

"It was an enormous relief," said Donald "And a great feeling. But I think my mind went immediately to mid-off, where Hansie would normally have been fielding. It would have been great if he had been there."

The right-arm fast bowler bowled Mark Richardson on the second day to move to No 298 and had Craig McMillan caught yesterday morning. O'Connor is in reasonable company on the Donald hit-list - England's Graeme Hick was the paceman's 100th test victim, and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasurya was No 200.