Donald downplays Atherton duel

Johannesburg: Top protagonists in the opening Test of the series South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald and England opening batsman Mike Atherton met in a hotel lift in Sandton yesterday and exchanged greetings.

Which, both have confirmed, was far more friendly than the battle they will be waging at the Wanderers tomorrow when the pair are likely to have their first duel of the five-match series starts with England naming three possible new caps in their squad of 12.

Whether Gavin Hamilton, included in the 12 for the first time will play ahead of the left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell is another matter although David Graveney, convener of England selectors, seems to favour the Yorkshire all-rounder ahead of the Middlesex spinner now on his seventh senior tour in the 1990s.

Donald, however, exuded the sort of confidence which indicated that he felt his chances of taking his place in the South African side were far better than were Hamiltons chances of playing for England. He had another light work out at the Wanderers yesterday to test the rib bruising but planned to prepare himself a lot more the trial this morning.

``I would have liked to have bowled a few overs now and give an indication to The Management of where I stand (on my fitness),'' Donald told a media briefing at the Wanderers yesterday.

``Right now I am fairly confident that Ill be playing,'' he said of the thundershower which disrupted the South Africa teams practice session about the time the bowlers arrived for their workout in the nets.

``I felt okay from the work out I have had (on Tuesday) when I bowled about four or five overs on my own. I was expecting the worse from the bruising I had over the last week or so, but it wasnt there, so . . . yes, I am feeling pretty confident of playing,'' he said.

He then revealed, with the sort of wicked grin you would expect from a fast bowler, he had met Atherton only a couple of hours earlier and ``we discussed having a beer or two later on'' and gave the distinct impression the battle would be waged in the middle.

``Yeah, I am looking forward to it. People are labelling it the Donald and Atherton show, its not quite like that,'' he said, trying to take some of the heat out of the subject. ``Its a one on one kind of battle between two guys. Hes playing very well at the moment . . . but it only takes one ball, doesnt it . . .''

Recalling their joust at Trent Bridge in August last year where New Zealand Umpire Steve Dunne judged Atherton not out after edging a catch, Donald admitted the ``adrenaline started pumping for nine or so overs''. Atherton said it was the most hostile spell of bowling he had experienced during his Test career.

Donald was also not planning to try and beat Pakistans Shoaib Akhtar to breaking the 100 mph speed barrier by a fast bowler.

``Im not the sort of person trying to go out to break the speed barrier. If it happens its one of those things; Im comfortable bowling above 90 miles an hour rather than go out and breaking speed records,'' he added.

He was not prepared to judge the Wanderers surface at this stage. He preferred Centurion and the Wanderers, but what he had seen of the pitch it looked good and might have regained a little of the pace it was once noted to have.

Athertons own view of his contest with Donald was more low key although he admitted it ``is going to a keen battle all right''.

The former England captain said facing bowlers such as Donald and Shaun Pollock had always been a challenge although he had being playing in a number of matches against them since the start of the last tour.

``I hope Allan (Donald) is fit because it means you are facing the best fast bowler and South Africa, let us not kid ourselves, have the ability to produce quality bowling at the highest level. It is what playing in a Test is all about,'' he added.

Atherton felt that his innings of 185 against South Africa at the Wanderers four years ago was ``a long time ago'' but it was nice to be back at the Wanderers.

At this stage Englands squad is heavily balanced in favour of the side which they fielded against the combined Northerns/Gauteng XI at SuperSport Park.

Michael Vaughan and Chris Adams were new caps while Hamiltons hopes hung in the balance. It shows five changes to the side which lost to New Zealand by 83 runs at The Oval in August and contains seven batsmen.

The teams:

South Africa (from): Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (capt), Jonty Rhodes, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Allan Donald, David Terbrugge, Paul Adams. Twelfth man: Boeta Dippenaar.

England (from): Mark Butcher, Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain (capt),Michael Vaughan, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Gavin Hamilton, Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough, Alan Mullally, Phil Tufnell.

Umpires: Dave Orchard (RSA) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India); TV umpire: Rudi Koertzen.

Hours of play: 10.30am-12.30 pm; 1.10-3.10pm; 3.30-5.30 (or 90 overs).