New Zealand appoint Allan Donald as bowling consultant

New Zealand have hired former South African fast bowler Allan Donald as their bowling consultant.
The former player was recently associated with Zimbabwe Cricket for three months as a head coach for their domestic side, the Mountaineers.

Donald was offered to be a part of the Kiwi team under the recently appointed coach John Wright, and he accepted the offer. He had to request the Zimbabwe Cricket to release him from his contract with them.

Although the New Zealand cricket board has requested Donald to be a part of the team on temporary basis, the fast bowler is very excited about the opportunity.
He said, “I'm extremely grateful to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) and the Mountaineers for agreeing to release me and I'm equally excited about the possibility of joining New Zealand Cricket on a more permanent basis.”
The former South African bowler further stated that he had learnt a lot from his experience with the Zimbabwean cricket team. Although he had been just a part of the team for three months, he said that he enjoyed the time with them.

Commenting on the Zimbabwean team, Donald said that he had seen a lot of potential in some players and the team was heading into the right direction. The Zimbabwe team will return to Test cricket in 2011 after the World Cup.

Donald was also excited to be a part of international cricket alongside John Wright. He stated, “The opportunity to return to international cricket was irresistible and to work with somebody of the stature of John Wright is something which doesn't come along every day and I can't wait to get started.”
The Kiwi team made many changes in the management after their disastrous run in 2010, the first one being the appointment of John Wright as the head coach in place of Mark Greatbatch.
The team is keen on improving their performance ahead of the ICC World Cup 2011 and Donald’s inclusion to the coaching staff seems a big step towards that.

New Zealand are currently engaged in a Test series against Pakistan where the hosts are trailing by 0-1 in the two-match series.