Watch your workload, guys!, Allan Donald

SA’s Anrich Nortje during the T20 World Cup final v India in Bridgetown, Barbados, earlier this year. Pic/AFP

The term workload management is discussed a lot in international cricket these days given the mushrooming of numerous T20 leagues combined with the busy international calendar that has made life extremely tough for fast bowlers in particular.

‘It's unavoidable'

Former South African pace ace Allan Donald believes this is unfortunate, but unavoidable at the same time. "Unfortunately, the injuries, to a guy like [South African pacer] Anrich Nortje [ruled out of SA's ongoing T20I series v Pakistan after breaking his left big toe, his second injury in the last 15 months. Previously, he suffered a stress fracture and was out for nine months, since September 2023], who is a box-office bowler, and a couple of others, is not ideal. What the rest of the world wants to see - what young fans around the world want to see - is a guy bowling at 155 clicks [kmph] and making things happen. But unfortunately the brutality of the world game is what it is," Donald, 58, the ambassador for the upcoming SA20 league (January 9 to February 8, 2025), said during an online interaction with international media on Monday.

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Allan Donald

The veteran of 72 Tests and a whopping 330 wickets insisted that it's up to the bowlers to listen to their bodies and respond accordingly. "Something that I keep saying is that, I've only played two T20 matches in my entire career and that too right at the back end of it. So, what these guys are going through now - with all the leagues - I'm not surprised that a lot of them will miss a league here, a tournament there, and maybe even for their country. It's just an ongoing cycle that I think is hard to stop. So, it's the player himself, who has to look into his own workload management and the level of the stress that gets put on the bodies," added Donald, who has played 164 ODIs, accounting for 272 wickets.

Opportunity for others

Interestingly, the man nicknamed While Lightning for his sheer pace during his peak, felt that there is some light at the end of this tunnel though. "Though this [injured players missing out] is unfortunate, let's not forget that this is also an opportunity for someone else to stake a claim. And that's what we want to see," he concluded.