5 best first change bowlers in ODIs

#3 Allan Donald

The man known as the ‘White Lightning’ for his searing pace was South Africa’s pace spearhead for most of his career and remains one of the best first change bowlers in the history of the game. Allan Donald played in 164 ODIs for South Africa in a career spanning 13 years (1991-2003) and in 68 of those games, he was the third bowler to be introduced into the attack.

The sheer riches in the South African bowling attack made it possible for them to introduce a bowler of the calibre of Donald as first change and it almost always had the desired effect, as batsmen found it hard to take liberties against him.

Pace, seam movement, and inswinging deliveries were his strengths and in the latter part of his career, he developed variations to compensate for a drop in pace. In those 68 games, Donald picked up 114 wickets at an average of 23.04 and recorded an equally impressive economy rate of only 4.41 an over. Last but not the least, his strike rate of 31.3 was equally impressive.