FORMER South African fast bowler Allan Donald has applied for the new post of Yorkshire's director of professional cricket.

He was encouraged to do so by Matthew Hoggard who was a team-mate of Donald's at Free State between 1998-2000.

If Donald gets the job he will be in charge of the first team in much the same way as was David Byas who parted company with Yorkshire earlier this week after declining to become director of cricket development.

But Donald is likely to be only one of several candidates for the post because Yorkshire are to advertise nationally and they expect to receive applications from at home and abroad.

Donald, 40, said he had decided to apply after going on the club's website and reading the news of Byas's departure.

"I will be sending off my application and my CV," said Donald.

"Vintcent van der Bijl, my boss in South Africa's high performance department, knows that I am looking to move away from specialist bowling coaching and that I would like to take charge of a team.

"There would seem to be more opportunities to do that in England than in South Africa right now. Most of the coaches at the franchise teams over here are clinging on to their jobs and money is tight. At Free State we can't afford a specialist bowling coach at the moment.

"I've had three years of coaching experience since I retired from playing and feel that my next move should be into coaching at first-class level. Second XI cricket is not an option. I've done that and I feel that I am now ready for first team cricket.

"I'm not going to flash around a lot of coaching badges. I don't think that means anything anyway. I will trust my instinct and my experience.

"I am aware that Yorkshire have had a torrid time recently but I have spoken to Matthew Hoggard and he has encouraged me to apply. We have had a couple of chats on the phone and exchanged text messages and he thinks it would be a good move for me and the club.

"Quite often the players respond to a coach who comes in from the outside. Players can be inspired by someone with a different approach and different ideas."

Yorkshire's tormentor

ALLAN Donald played in 72 Test matches for South African, taking 330 wickets at an average of 22.25 and is among the world's finest ever fast bowlers.

In 164 one-day internationals he claimed 272 wickets at 21.78 runs apiece while in all first class matches he collected 1,216 wickets at 22.76.

Donald was a stalwart servant for Warwickshire from 1987-2000 and during that time he regular created havoc among Yorkshire's batsmen and was largely responsible for several heavy Championship defeats by the Tykes.

He grabbed a total of nine wickets at Headingley in 1988 and three years later on the same ground bagged match figures of 10-96 before claiming 6-75 in the return encounter at Edgbaston.

In 1993 at Edgbaston he followed up first innings figures of 3-31 with 7-98 and in 1995 on the ground he claimed 5-21.

But one of his most destructive performances was in an AXA Equity and Law League match at Edgbaston in June 1995 when Yorkshire, chasing a 176 target, were routed in 18.4 overs for 56, Donald proving unplayable with 6-15 in 6.4 overs of torrid pace.