Aneurin Henry Thomas Donald (born 20 December 1996) is a Welsh

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who has played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

as a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and right-arm

off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...

bowler. In December 2015 he was named in England's squad for the

2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament held in Bangladesh from 22 January to 14 February 2016. It was the eleventh edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the second to be held in Ban ...

Career

Donald initially learnt to play cricket at Gorseinon CC, where his brother Gafyn still turns out for the 1st XI.

Glamorgan: 2016-2018

Donald progressed through the Glamorgan Cricket Academy, and spent a summer in Australia at the

Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...

Cricket Academy, before moving back to his native Wales in 2016. On 17 July 2016, Donald equalled

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is an Indian cricket commentator, former professional cricketer and head coach of the India national cricket team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 1981 and 199 ...

's record for fastest ever double hundred in

, off just 123 balls, eventually scoring 234 off 136 balls in an innings that was also his maiden

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

hundred for Glamorgan. His record was surpassed in 2017. His form then suffered for the following two seasons, and by the 2018 season he was dropped from Glamorgan's County Championship and 50-over sides, but remained as a T20 opening batsman.

Hampshire: 2018-2023

Offered a new three-year contract from 2019 to 2021 by Glamorgan, Donald who has ambitions to play for the England national side, decided for career reasons on 23 August 2018 to sign a two-year deal with Hampshire for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. As a result, Glamorgan offered Donald to Hampshire as a loan player for the remainder of the 2018 season, and he hence moved with immediate effect. In the 2019 season, Donald broke into the Hampshire County Championship side. In his first first-class game for Hampshire, he hit 75 from 56 balls against Warwickshire, and in July he took the same attack for 173 off 144 balls in a superb counterattacking innings from No. 6. He finished the season with 554 runs at 39.57 with a strike rate of 83.30. In December 2019, Donald was ruled out of the 2020 cricket season, after tearing his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

. in 2022 Donald was part of Hampshire's 2022 T20 Blast winning team. In 2023, Donald was loaned to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. At the conclusion of the 2023 season it was announced that Donald would join Derbyshire permanently at the end of his Hampshire contract in October 2023.

Derbyshire: 2024-present

Donald scored 315 runs for Derbyshire during their 2024 T20 Blast campaign, including setting a club record for the fastest 50 off just 19 balls, as well as making 13 county championship appearances and as a result was rewarded with a new two-year contract in February 2025. On 6 July 2025 he scored the joint fastest T20 Blast 50 by scoring 51 off 13 balls against Yorkshire.

Playing style

Donald is known for his exuberant and attacking playing style. In the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup he played the first ever 'Scooping Slap Shot' in a match against Zimbabwe.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Aneurin 1996 births Welsh cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Wales National County cricketers Hampshire cricketers Living people Wicket-keepers Derbyshire cricketers Birmingham Phoenix cricketers