Paul Nixon remembers Donald's debut appearance in county cricket

Paul Nixon is one of only three cricketers in England to have played across four decades. He is still good enough at 40 to command a permanent slot.

http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2011/04/paul_nixon_marc.php


"I was 18 and had grown up on a farm. I came down to Grace Road and it was Allan Donald's trial game for Warwickshire.

"I turn up, the first ball I see is Russell Cobb, our batsman, two feet in the air. He gloves it in front of his face and Keith Piper takes the catch standing 30 yards back.

"Five minutes later it was like a parachute jumping out of the dressing room, but I got 35 and 38." Leicestershire had seen enough.

If Donald inadvertently played a part in Nixon's entry into the first-class arena, he was also responsible for wrecking what Nixon saw as his greatest chance to break through into the England Test side.

"It was 1995 and I'd had a good winter with England A in India and Bangladesh," he recalls. "I was playing for England A against the champions of the previous summer, Warwickshire.

"I was 50 not out when Donald smashed my thumb and put me out for six weeks. I believed that was going to be my time."