DONALD FOR DIRECTOR?

Allan Donald
By JMB
January 4 2007

Former pace ace Allan Donald wants to become Yorkshire's new director of professional cricket according to the Yorkshire Post. The club are assessing their options following the departure of David Byas this week and Donald is thought to be a possible contender.

Donald is said to be interested in the job. Another name being mentioned is James Whitaker, the former Leicestershire coach, who lives in Yorkshire.

The role will be advertised in the national press on Sunday, along with that of the newly-created administrative job of director of cricket operations. Yorkshire are staying tight-lipped over potential candidates and have declined to reveal who is in the frame.

Stewart Regan, Yorkshire's chief executive, said "It's flattering if someone like Allan Donald is interested in the job, and we are certainly interested in talking to as many people as possible, but we have not received an application from Allan and everything is still wide open in terms of the club filling this position. The job is undeniably one of the most high-profile in cricket and it's bound to attract some high-quality names. At the same time, I would stress to our supporters that we are still very much in the process of casting the net and that nothing whatsoever has yet been finalised."

Donald is inexperienced as a coach, but has a winner's mentality and a string of contacts and could offer invaluable help to Yorkshire's younger players.

Whoever takes the job faces a major challenge with the playing staff depleted following the departures of Darren Lehmann, Michael Lumb and almost certainly Anthony McGrath, who asked to be released from his county contract. The Yorkshire Post claim that the club's latest meeting with McGrath ended in deadlock, with the player sticking to his position that he wants to leave and the county adamant he is going nowhere. A legal battle appears increasingly likely.