Aneurin Henry Thomas Donald (born 20 December 1996) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who has played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

as a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and right-arm

off spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler. In December 2015 he was named in England's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Career

Donald initially learnt to play cricket at Gorseinon CC, where his brother Gafyn still turns out for the 1st XI.

Glamorgan: 2016-2018

Donald progressed through the Glamorgan Cricket Academy, and spent a summer in Australia at the

Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection fo ...

Cricket Academy, before moving back to his native Wales in 2016. On 17 July 2016, Donald equalled the fastest ever double hundred in

, off just 123 balls, eventually scoring 234 off 136 balls in an innings that was also his maiden

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

hundred for Glamorgan. His form then suffered for the following two seasons, and by the 2018 season he was dropped from Glamorgan's County Championship and 50-over sides, but remained as a T20 opening batsman.

Hampshire: 2018-2023

Offered a new three-year contract from 2019 to 2021 by Glamorgan, Donald who has ambitions to play for the England national side, decided for career reasons on 23 August 2018 to sign a two-year deal with Hampshire for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. As a result, Glamorgan offered Donald to Hampshire as a loan player for the remainder of the 2018 season, and he hence moved with immediate effect. In the 2019 season, Donald broke into the Hampshire County Championship side. In his first first-class game for Hampshire, he hit 75 from 56 balls against Warwickshire, and in July he took the same attack for 173 off 144 balls in a superb counterattacking innings from No. 6. He finished the season with 554 runs at 39.57 with a strike rate of 83.30. In December 2019, Donald was ruled out of the 2020 cricket season, after tearing his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

. in 2022 Donald was part of Hampshire's 2022 T20 Blast winning team. In 2023, Donald was loaned to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. At the conclusion of the 2023 season it was announced that Donald would join Derbyshire permanently at the end of his Hampshire contract in October 2023.

Playing style

Donald is known for his exuberant and attacking playing style. In the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup he played the first ever 'Scooping Slap Shot' in a match against Zimbabwe.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Aneurin 1996 births Welsh cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Wales National County cricketers Hampshire cricketers Living people Wicket-keepers Derbyshire cricketers