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Speaking as a bowler, I think the best place to be last Friday during the first Standard Bank One-Day International was where I was - watching it on television. The Wanderers pitch was an absolutely magnificent batting strip and even though India asked South Africa to score 280 to win, a target of about 320 was probably what they really needed to set. That would have made for a fantastic run chase.

Even so, South Africa had Gary Kirsten to thank for playing such a calculated innings. He paced it so well, hardly giving the Indians a sniff and when you consider that Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar also scored centuries, Gary didn't suffer at all by comparison. In fact, when you consider that his hundred took South Africa to victory, you have to say that it was probably the best of the three.

But, as I said, on that pitch bowlers weren't going to win it no matter who they were. Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar, it doesn't matter who, it was a pitch made for batting.

Which is a good thing in one way for one-day cricket. Crowds want to see plenty of runs scored, but if you're a bowler - and an out-and-out bowler like me who bats down at 10 or 11 - it can be hard work.

From a South African point of view, apart from Gary's innings I thought that Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis also played really well. Herschelle's been in brilliant form this summer, and when he gets going he's very difficult to contain while Jacques just batted around Gary.

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The only concern that I have - and it's quite a nice thing to worry about - is that the guys in the lower middle order - Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher - aren't getting much time at the crease. I'm sure they're working as hard as ever in the nets, but it's never the same thing as batting out in the middle during the match.

As for the Indians, well, Sourav's coming back from a run of indifferent form and he looked like he had something to prove. And as for the Little Master, well, we know what he can do and he just went out and did it. Again, though, India probably let themselves down a bit after getting a fantastic start and, as I said, they probably needed to have scored around 320 to have been competitive.

I wouldn't want to make too many judgements about their bowling on that pitch, but I thought Javagal Srinath looked a bit rusty and he probably needs a few more overs under his belt before he reaches his best form.

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The guy who could do well in South Africa, though, is Ajit Agarkar. There's not very much of him, but he's deceptively quick, quicker than you might think He's a skiddy type of bowler, but he comes onto the bat hard and he was the one guy who made Gary hurry his shots every now and again.

I know the Australians think highly of him and from talking to a few of the Indian journalists I know that he was disappointed not to have been picked in the squad in the first place. It's obvious that he wants to make an impression here and I think he'll have a good tour of South Africa.

I also watched a bit of the South Africa-Kenya match on Sunday and it's no disrespect to the Kenyans to say that they aren't quite in the same class as South Africa or India. They've got a couple of good players, Steve Tikolo and Maurice Odumbe, but they're going to battle a bit. Still, you can't write anyone off in a one-off game and remember, they've beaten the West Indies before.

As for myself, I've had a bit of a stomach muscle strain and that's why I didn't play for Free State this past weekend. It was one of those 50-50 things, but I decided not to risk it in the end and gave it time to clear itself up.

But I'm sure I'll be fine this coming weekend. Free State are playing Border and I'll be raring to go.

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Other Articles by Allan Donald:

• One bouncer rule will put India on the backfoot (5 October 2001)