Donald withdraws application for England post

Allan Donald: withdrawn application © Getty Images

Allan Donald has withdrawn his application for the vacant England bowling coach position after meeting with South African board officials.

Donald's announcement came after he held talks with Gerald Majola, the board's CEO, and Vince van der Bijl, its general manager of professional cricket.

The meeting was called by Majola to discuss comments in the media last weekend that Donald, who is employed in CSA's high performance programme as a specialist bowling coach, that he had applied for the English post.

"I have given much thought to the matter, and have withdrawn my application for the England bowling coach post," Donald told reporters. "I will rather stay with Cricket South Africa's high performance programme and throw my full weight behind it.

"My heart lies with South African cricket, and I want to do everything I can in the effort to make us the best in the world. I will also be writing to the board of Cricket South Africa to apologise for making a public statement about my England application before discussing the matter with CSA. I want to put the whole matter behind me, and carry on working with the high performance structures in South Africa".

"Vince and I had a full and frank discussion with Allan," Majola said. "We are delighted that he has decided to stay with South African cricket, and build the game here for the future. Allan was one of the South Africa's greatest bowlers and we regard him as a national asset.

"We recruited him into our high performance programme as soon as it was possible after he stopped playing international and domestic cricket. He will continue working in the high performance programme as a specialist bowling coach in terms of a two-year contract, renewable after the next World Cup in 2007.

"His tasks are to identify and groom promising young fast bowlers, and to assist established bowlers should they lose form. Allan will also be available on request to assist the national team."

Donald had emerged as the favourite to replace Troy Cooley, who finishes as England's bowling coach in May, after the India tour. With Donald out of the way, others being linked with the vacancy include Phil DeFreitas, Mike Watkinson, Steve Watkin, Kevin Shine and Andy Pick, although the ECB wouldn't confirm exactly who had applied.

"We wouldn't comment on any application for roles at the ECB," their media relations manager Andrew Walpole told Cricinfo. "Interviews will be taking place shortly and we would hope to be in a position to make an announcement during England's tour in India."