Allan Donald has been voted Warwickshire's Greatest Overseas Player after receiving 48 per cent of the votes in the first of our series of Bears Greatest polls.
After a bumper response – many thanks to all of you who voted – the South African pace-ace known as White Lighting came out on top against the other short-listed stars Jeetan Patel, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharran and Brian Lara.
All the players on that list fully justify the word ‘great’ for the impact they had on Warwickshire as overseas players but the man known throughout the cricket world as A.D got the nod.
His wholehearted brilliance for the club spanned more than a decade, peaking in 1995 when, in a blazing hot summer, he took 89 county championship wickets at 16.07 apiece to power the Bears to the title.
His efforts that year are recalled with awe not just by fans but by his team-mates of the time.
Opening batsman Andy Moles recalls: “A.D was just amazing in ’95. He’d been away touring with South Africa while we were winning the championship in ’94 so badly wanted to win it when he came back.
He was hard enough to face at the best of times, but add in the extra fire which came from wanting to win because he had missed out the year before and he was terrifying!”
* Next in the Warwickshire’s Greatest series: Captains.
