Aneurin Donald

Aneurin Donald, a hard-hitting batsman, who bagged the joint record for the fastest double-hundred in first-class cricket when he notched 234 off 136 balls against Derbyshire in 2016. Just like the current breed of English batters, Donald is equally brilliant in white-ball cricket as well. 

Born in Swansea, Donald initially learnt to play cricket at Gorseinon CC, before breaking Glamorgan's age group and second XI set-ups. In 2016, the destructive batter represented England in the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, where Donald played the first-ever scooping slap shot against Zimbabwe. 

After years of hard grind at the junior level, the Swansea-born broke into Glamorgan’s first XI team, in 2016, where he lit the centre stage by scoring the joint-fastest double ton that turned into his maiden Championship century. In the following season, he showed a bit of form in limited-overs cricket, before getting out of form in all sorts. 

By 2018, Donald was dropped from the county’s Championship and 50-over sides but remained their first-choice T20 opener. However, by the end of the season, the youngster left his native club to join Hampshire. 

An exuberant Donald had a flourishing first season for Hampshire, when he piled up 554 Championship runs, apart from bagging 131 runs in Royal London and 203 T20 Blast runs. In December 2019, Donald suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury which saw him miss the whole of Hampshire's 2020 season. Then an aggregated injury at the knee ruled him out for a second consecutive summer. 

A talent like Donald would miss so much cricket in today’s day and age, which would be heart-breaking for anyone. Although Hampshire CCC has said Donald would surely resume his career in 2022. 

(As of August 2021)