Paul Martin

Should fast bowlers bowl bouncers to each other? In former days, it was an unwritten rule not to do so. It was also thought to be decidedly dangerous - because the "victim" would have the ability to retaliate in kind, or unkind, the very next time roles were reversed.

But recently it has been, as Shakespeare put it (in Hamlet), a "rule more honoured in the breach than the observance".

However, things can hardly ever have got quite to the stage they did in a provincial match in South Africa. Allan Donald, the doyen of South African pacemen, was at the wicket, bat in hand (he is more famous perhaps for letting his bat slip out of his hands, in the notorious 1999 World Cup semi-final).

In comes a 23-year-old speedster called Andre Nel. Currently playing for Eastern Province, he's being widely tipped as a potential Protea, and may get a place on the upcoming tour to the West Indies.

He bowls a nasty lifter. Donald ducks but the ball smashes into his head. Shaken, he bats on. This is where the controversy reaches fever pitch.

His captain is Deon Jordaan. The message is made clear to the young paceman. He is told: bowl another bouncer. Jordaan later explains that he wanted to get Nel toughened up, to learn to be part of the new ruthless nature of international cricket.

Sure enough, it's another blistering bumper, and again, Donald is felled. Donald spends the whole weekend in hospital.

You might think the "offending" team's coach would feel the need, if not to apologise, than at least to be diplomatic. No way. He gets cheeky.

"Allan has been dishing it out at international level for years," Jennings told a radio interviewer yesterday. "When a player of his calibre has slowed down by a metre or two and shows fear at the crease against a fellow fast-bowler, perhaps it's time to think of retirement."

Nel had an incentive to get Donald out -- he gets a bonus of around 160 US dollars per wicket. But he denies that there was a "bounty" put -- literally -- on Donald's head. Hardly surprisingly, the United Cricket Board is (like Queen Victoria) not amused.

Donald, 33, the biggest wicket-taker in South African Test cricket history, is a mega-star, and the Board have been nursing him back to health and form after a worrying series of injuries and mishaps. And now this!

They're holding a hearing within hours (Thursday) to decide if they should go on to have a full disciplinary inquiry involving the bowler, the captain and the coach. I reckon they will let the matter drop -- but they certainly will be putting out the word that targeting the willow-challenged tail-ender could seriously rebound on the perpetrator.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier