Cricket: Donald able to show off his speed

THERE WAS a marked difference between this Test and the first one at Edgbaston. Here Allan Donald was bowling appreciably faster. He could afford to yesterday. He knew he only had to keep going for a maximum of seven overs before stumps, and then, ominously for England, he had all night to recover before starting all over again this morning.

The quickest delivery he sent down at Edgbaston, according to the speed machine, was 87 miles per hour. At Lord's Donald was consistently faster at around 88mph and on perhaps three occasions reached 90mph.

Mind you, as David Lloyd, the England coach, pointed out later, that self-same machine had the usually mild-mannered Mark Ealham down as having bowled a ball at 81mph.

"In fact," added Lloyd, "he seemed to be operating at somewhere between 78mph and 81mph. If that was the case he must have had a gale up his arse. I think that is a bit exaggerated. I don't think this machine is absolutely reliable."

It was good enough for Donald though. Perhaps the bouncers that Dean Headley greeted him with when he was batting did not help the England cause, but as Lloyd said, that is all part of the game.

Donald, the world's fastest bowler, had good support from Shaun Pollock. His ball that claimed the England captain fazed everyone for a moment. It kept so low when it rapped Alec Stewart on the pads that people thought the victim had to be Nasser Hussain, given his recent run of luck with such deliveries.

But if South Africa are now in the ascendancy this morning it is to the runs of Jonty Rhodes that they owe their position. His second Test century, which was scattered with chances, was still a pleasant experience for the 28-year-old. "It is a bit of a milestone for me to have played at Lord's," he said.

"I'm not one for stats, whatever people want to think. In three days, if my hundred has helped us win this Test then I will be able to regard this as one of the best days of my Test career, but if we don't win, then it will be just another set of numbers on the board.

"I'm enjoying my cricket, having a lot of fun, and I am doing my best. But it is only a game. If you take it too seriously you are in danger of over complicating things."

Rhodes was hit on the helmet by Headley shortly before reaching his hundred and it immediately reawakened memories of The Oval Test in 1994 when Rhodes, an epileptic, was taken to hospital after taking a blow in the temple region from Devon Malcolm. "This was not like the last time," he said, brushing off the incident. "I have a little lump on my head and it will be sore for a while, but it was not anywhere near as bad."

Far more serious for England was the form of Donald. Rhodes paid tribute to his colleague. "Allan came out and bowled some pretty quick deliveries," he said. "That machine was registering 90mph. That's a pretty sharp delivery. There were two or three. Maybe it wasn't wise of Dean Headley to have done what he did, because I think Allan came out fired up."

And there will be more of the same this morning.