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It is just over a decade since Aneurin Donald, who will make his England debut in Tuesday's first T20 against Sri Lanka, was terrorising motorists in the usually peaceful north Welsh seaside town of Colwyn Bay.
An exaggeration? Only just. Because during the course of a championship innings of 234 off just 136 balls for Glamorgan against Derbyshire in July 2016, aged just 19, he hit 15 sixes, not to mention 26 fours.
After making what Wisden described as ‘a sketchy start’, five of his blows dented cars parked in the members’ enclosure, while another assaulted a passing bus.
Asked whether he had intended to bring up his 100, 150 and 200 by clearing the ropes, he admitted: ‘Yes, it was in the mind.’
His double-century was, at the time, the joint-fastest in first-class history, equalling Ravi Shastri’s 123-ball blitz for Bombay against Baroda in India’s Ranji Trophy in 1984-85. The only mystery is why it has taken Donald, a former England Under 19s captain, until the age of 29 to play international cricket.
Part of the reason is sheer bad luck. Born in Swansea, he left his native Glamorgan towards the end of the 2018 season to join Hampshire, in the hope of boosting his England chances. An incandescent innings of 173 off 144 balls against Warwickshire at Southampton briefly rekindled memories of Colwyn Bay.
Aneurin Donald (left) will make his England debut in Tuesday's first T20 against Sri Lanka alongside fellow opener Jos Buttler
Donald hit a 19-ball 38 for Trent Rockets in the Hundred final at Lord's, which went down well with England white-ball coach Brendon McCullum
But he tore an anterior cruciate ligament playing five-a-side football that winter, ruling him out of the Covid-shortened 2020 season.
When he suffered a recurrence of the injury in March 2021, having by his own admission attempted a comeback ‘without a functioning ACL’, he had to miss the whole of that summer too, and described himself as ‘devastated’.
Surgery followed, but by the time Donald finally returned to competitive first-team action for Hampshire in May 2022, he had been out of the game for 960 days, missing the prime years of 22 to 25.
He averaged just 28 in red-ball cricket that season, and in 2023 didn’t make Hampshire’s Championship team at all, restricted to the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, which by then had become almost a Second XI competition because it clashed with the Hundred, and four games in the T20 Blast which produced 19 runs.
But his close shave with retirement had instilled a new determination. When he joined up with the England team this week, he opted against joining in the squad football match, for obvious reasons.
And he decided, as he told Cricinfo recently, to ‘put my best foot forward. I’m going to go down in a blaze of glory. If I’m going to get out, it’s doubling down on what I’m good at.’
Another switch followed, this time to Derbyshire, where his T20 batting has moved to another level. In this year’s competition, his 489 runs at 40 came at the astonishing strike-rate of 230. He also hit more sixes, 37, than anyone in the tournament.
In the Hundred, meanwhile, he struck at 217 for Trent Rockets, faster than anyone in the competition with more than 35 runs.
His 19-ball 38 in the final came against a Manchester Super Giants attack that included Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Liam Dawson. And while it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat, it went down well with England white-ball coach Brendon McCullum.
Two years ago, when McCullum was still Test coach, Donald told Daily Mail Sport: ‘The rhythm of Bazball is something I’ve felt natural for me, since I started playing Championship cricket a little while ago. That’s the gear I play at.’
Donald is hoping to put his interactions with England’s new white-ball batting mentor Kevin Pietersen to good use
‘He’s got a game where he can go from ball one,' says McCullum of his new batting star
Now, with injuries to Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell freeing up an opening slot alongside Jos Buttler, Donald – who is hoping to put his interactions with England’s new white-ball batting mentor Kevin Pietersen to good use – will get his chance to show McCullum what England have been missing.
‘He’s a cricketer who has been on our radar for a long time,’ said McCullum, ahead of tomorrow's first T20 at the Utilita Bowl. ‘He’s got a game where he can go from ball one, which is probably quite similar to Salty.
'He’s got raw power. He’s got an incredible amount of talent and I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes on the big stage.’
