Allan Donald added a new chapter to the growing legend surrounding South Africa's top strike bowler yesterday when he sparked a Sri Lankan top-order collapse and netted his 200th test wicket along the way.
It was the sort of one-man heroics which has littered his career and gave South Africa the fighting chance they need today to win the seccond match of the series at SuperSport Centurion.
The 31-year-old, who has an avowed ambition to take 300 test wickets wrote his own special page in South African history when he became he first bowler to take 200 wickets.
The figure now stands at 202 after he ended the third day of an absorbing game with three for 45 as the tourists were reduced to 93 for seven at the close.
The explosive fast bowler's 200th test and 1,000 first-class victim was the ever attacking all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya who chopped the ball into his stumps with the fifth ball of Donald's fourth over. He became the 33rd bowler to claim 200 test wickets after being denied the honour on Saturday as he strove to get rid of the Sri Lankan lower-order.
Not surprisingly the event earned a standing ovation from the record crowd of almost 15,000. And when he trapped Roshan Mahanama lbw the next ball the crowd again erupted in an electrifying frenzy.
There was no hat-trick, however; the first ball of his fifth over curved past the outside edge of Marvan Atapattu's bat.
By his own admission Donald had ``to go out and bite the bullet'' and forget about the ankle injury which had casued him so much discomfort since Friday afternoon. There is a pinched nerve in the heel just below the achillies and has hampered his normal freedom of movement.
``It's fantistic to have taken 200 wickets in such a short time,'' he acknowledged after yesterday's bowling spell in what is his 42nd test since playing against the West Indies in Barbados almost six years ago.
``But let us not kid ourselves, there's a lot of work to do before we can win this test,'' he added.
So far he has taken 12 wickets this series, a pair of threes at Newlands followed by the three in the first innings at Centurion and now three in the second. It would have been 13 only Daryll Cullian put down a fairly simple catch when Aravinda de Silva fell into the trap and hooked to fine leg.
Yet he admitted that taking five today would be an ideal way to end the test season. He has 10 five wicket hauls in an innings and two 10 wickets in a match.
Amid all this the explosive fast bowler indicated he was was also ready to play in the ODI series which starts on Friday.
Before his electrifying spell yesterday Donald had taken 43 wicket in 10 tests this season with the Sri Lanka second innings. On Saturday he had to work his way through the pain barrier, shrugging off the need to rest.
He had already bowled four overs before lunch as South Africa took the new ball in a bid to end Arjuna Ranatunga's defiance and seven after being able to put his feet up and have team physio Craig Smith work on the injury. All the time there was the ever present consciousness of the need to quit the stage on which he had become a major player. His three wickets during that spell did much to restrict Sri Lanka to a first innings sccore of 303.