Allan Donald will take up a position as a consulting coach for all Free State Cricket teams, including the Knights franchise, for the duration of October, the Free State Cricket Union announced on Wednesday.
Donald, 52, will be leaving his position as Kent's assistant coach at the end of this season, upon completion of a two-year stint with the county. Born in Bloemfontein in the Free State, Donald is renowned as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of Test cricket. He took 330 wickets in 72 Tests and also played 164 ODIs for South Africa, taking 272 wickets.
"We are delighted to announce that we have embarked on a project to get a consulting coach this season," Knights and Free State Cricket chief executive, Johan van Heerden, said.
"The name of Allan Donald came up as the best candidate as he was recently inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame; and as a player, a coach or an administrator you cannot receive a higher honour than that.
"Allan is a born and bred Bloemfonteiner and it was an obvious choice to get him to come and look after our fast bowlers."
Donald will be working closely with the current Knights fast bowlers in preparation for the 4-Day Franchise Series, which starts in October, as well as all provincial teams going to various national weeks towards the end of the year.
"Allan will work with the different age group fast bowlers' prior to the national weeks to equip them and teach them more about the art of fast bowling," van Heerden said.
Donald's work with some of the province's young bowlers forms part of Free State cricket's drive to nurture youth cricket in the region, and particularly the young cricketers who are part of the South Africa Under-19 set-up.
"We have secured three fast bowling superstars at the Under-19 level in the Jansen twins [Duan and Marco], as well as Gerald Coetzee," van Heerden said.
"An initiative like this requires money and we are proud to announce that we have secured a sponsorship with VKB to take care of this project that will help us build the future of cricket in the Free State and the Central Region."