Allan Donald openly admits he carried on too long in Test cricket but nevertheless believes England’s veteran pace duo of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad deserve the chance to call time on their own stellar careers rather than be pensioned off.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has suggested that the future of Anderson, 39, is the elephant in the room for the Test team yet Donald offers a different view.
Of his own decision in 2001-02, Donald tells Sportsmail: ‘If I have one regret, it was when I tried to play six more Test matches against Australia. At that stage, I was gutless, and my pace had dropped. To know you are not as effective as you once were is not a nice feeling at all.’
Allan Donald believes that Stuart Broad and James Anderson can decide when to retire
But the South African fast-bowling great adds: ‘In contrast, if you saw Anderson in Melbourne, when conditions suited him big time, he was still a threat. There’s no one that makes the ball dance around like him when there’s something in the pitch.
‘He’s still a world-class bowler and I am simply astonished by the number of Test matches that both he and Broad have played.
‘Those guys have the right to say when it’s time to go but inevitably, when a team has taken a hiding like England have, the guns come out the holsters.
‘In my eyes, their time is not yet up, and they can still help the younger guys coming through. It’s so rare for fast bowlers to play 100 Test matches, let alone 150, so great credit to those two for leading from the front for such a period of time.
Michael Vaughan (L) suggested that Anderson's future is an awkward topic for Joe Root
Anderson, 39, is embarking on another tour of Australia during England's Ashes misery
‘They look so bloody fresh too. I don’t know how they do it. Their longevity has been incredible, as has their consistency. You must doff your cap to that. They’ve been sublime. Superstars.’
Of the 80 bowlers to have taken 200 or more Test wickets, just five — Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose, Fred Trueman and Glenn McGrath — have done so at a more miserly cost than the mark of 330 at 22.25 in 72 matches
