van der Bijl sways Donald's decision

Vince van der Bijl isn't about to claim the credit for South Africa's successful scramble to retain the services of Allan Donald, but the public will give it to him anyway.

Alarm bells rang across South Africa at the weekend when Donald, the country's most illustrious bowler with 330 wickets from 72 Tests, announced he had applied for the position of England bowling coach.

That came hard on the heels of Gary Kirsten's resignation as South Africa's high performance manager. Donald, it seemed, had become disillusioned with his role as a specialist bowling coach in the same structure.

The nation held its breath as van der Bijl, Cricket South Africa's (CSA) general manager of professional cricket, and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola met with Donald in Johannesburg on Friday.

The thought of Donald in an England shirt, coming on top of South Africa's loss to England in last summer's Test series and umpteen defections by South African first-class players to English cricket, would have been almost too much to bear. "That would have been enough to make anyone cringe," Kirsten said. "He's such a high-profile South African, it would have been a bit weird."

But if anyone could persuade Donald, whose wife is English and who built up a strong bond with England during his years with Warwickshire, to stay put it was the passionate, articulate van der Bijl. "C'mon Big Vince," went the silent prayer.

Mission accomplished: Donald said after the meeting that he remained committed to South African cricket. What did van der Bijl say to help Donald reach his decision?

"You'll have to ask him what made up his mind, all I can say is that we sat down and had an open conversation," said van der Bijl, who nevertheless did not attempt to hide his satisfaction at Donald's choice.

"He knows what he can do for South African cricket, and I'm delighted he's staying," said van der Bijl. "He can be of great value because of his amazing wealth of experience in the heat of battle, he can impart that atmosphere and the attitude that is required to go to the top."

van der Bijl said Donald would also be involved when international bowlers lost form. The planning for Donald's future role, van der Bijl said, was already underway. "We spent a bit of time mapping out the way forward for the high performance programme," he said, "and the national academy for the coming off-season."

Donald said personal considerations had tipped the balance for him. "I made the decision to stay in South Africa based on family commitments," he said. "I have three young children and to take them back to England and then back to South Africa again once that job is over would not be good for them."

Impatience, he conceded, had prompted him to consider switching his allegiance. "Maybe I was a bit hasty, but when the England job came up I wanted it desperately," Donald said. "I hadn't really thought about the long-term implications. My time will come coaching-wise, I must just be patient. But in the meantime I'm just going to get stuck in with the high performance programme, it's all looking very positive."

Donald was satisfied with the outcome of Friday's meeting. "CSA did indicate they would try and get me more involved with the national team and give me more of a hands-on role," he said. "I'll be chatting to [South African coach] Mickey Arthur when he gets back from Australia and hopefully I'll be able to work with the national bowlers much more during the home Tests here."