JOHANNESBURG, March 5: Veteran South African fast bowler Allan Donald admitted on Wednesday that he is close to announcing his retirement from international cricket, saying the decision to drop him from the side which lost to Sri Lanka had left him stunned.

“I will make a final announcement in the next few days, but I am leaning heavily towards retirement from international cricket,” Donald told the BBC.

“There were suggestions of staying on for the tour of England but this is probably the right time to bow out.

“I said over the last week I was feeling like my old self again, and the captain, Shaun Pollock, said as much the day before, but he then came to me and said I had been left out — I was stunned.

“I got the feeling Shaun and the coaches wanted me in but they only have so much power on the selection committee. I thought I would have found someone to back me.”

Donald, who has taken 272 wickets in 164 one-dayers, cut a forlorn figure at the World Cup, being dropped three times as desperate selectors constantly changed the team in an attempt to rescue a campaign severely jolted by bad results.

“To be knocked out as a result of two tied matches in two World Cups is just heart-breaking, and to be sitting helpless on Monday night made it even worse,” Donald said.

Donald also said that the public should get off Pollock’s back and give him a chance to prove that he is the right man for the job.

“Cricket careers have got to go on — we cannot just throw people on the scrapheap purely on the basis of a bad tournament — because someone has not bowled well or kept well,” he said.

“We have a captain in Shaun Pollock who can continue to do the job and we have to build on the guys who played a part in the World Cup.”—AFP