Cricket: Donald's bubbly may yet go flat

By RICHARD BOOCK

POTCHEFSTROOM - With all due respect to the New Zealand batsmen, it seems South Africa might have started counting their chickens before they have hatched.

Word has leaked through that the United Cricket Board of South Africa has planned to mark Allan Donald's 300th test wicket with a special celebration on Saturday night - following the second day's play in the first test at Bloemfontein.

Donald, who will be playing in his first test for eight months, is sitting on 297 wickets and will become the world's 15th bowler to reach 300 if he enjoys a successful comeback at Goodyear Park.

But the pivotal word here is "if."

While no one would deny that Donald has the capacity to cause serious damage to New Zealand's batting line-up, he would hardly be the first bowler in international cricket to find himself frustrated on the threshold of greatness.

In 1988, Richard Hadlee arrived at Lancaster Park for the first test against England needing one more wicket to overtake Ian Botham and claim a world-record 374th, and with a New Zealand cricketing public glued to his every delivery.

In the end, however, the only ice he required was not for the champagne, but for a badly swollen right knee.

Hadlee's four separate spells returned no wicket from 18 overs, and his day ended miserably when, after falling awkwardly in the field, he was forced out of the game just before the tea interval.

He missed the rest of the three-test series and eventually reached the milestone 10 months later in Bangalore.

Botham then attempted a comeback to extend his own mark, but also fell on lean times.

And English paceman Darren Gough was another who tempted fate during the Ashes series in Australia six years ago, after rather boldly declaring his intention to name his new-born son, Liam, after all his victims on the first day in the opening test at Brisbane.

Although he eventually did manage to chip out David Boon and Michael Bevan, one English correspondent noted that for quite some time there seemed a strong chance of a Yorkshire vicar intoning "I christen this child Liam, "No Wickets for Plenty," Gough."