LIGHTNING-fast pace bowler Allan Donald believes he could pick up a huge bonus from his Marsden BS Lancashire Cricket League stint - through his batting!

Donald has made a good start in difficult conditions, taking wickets and scoring runs.

And one of his new Rishton team-mates, John Seedle, reckons just having White Lightning in the side makes the reigning champions feel almost "unbeatable".

Eight wickets at modest cost in his first two Lancashire League matches is cause for Rishton to be very satisfied with their scoop signing, rather than ecstatic.

But they were delighted when Donald - normally classed as a tail-ender at the game's higher levels - steered them to victory with the bat at rainy Rawtenstall last weekend.

So too was the Test man.

"I don't usually get too much batting, but the skipper wanted me to bat at number five and that's fine by me," said the likeable star who may appear mean when he's bowling but who has never been short of a smile since arriving in Rishton.

"Hopefully I will get plenty of time in the middle, especially when it's a bit warmer, and then I can go back home at the end of the season and show the boys I can now bat a bit.

"It will be a bonus for me if I can improve that side of my game." Seedle, another Rishton newcomer this season, was in tune with the professional both bowling and batting last weekend when Donald's unbeaten 19 steered them through to victory.

And he has no doubts that the runs will start to flow - along with the wickets, of course - once the pro really settles in.

"He plays straight and I think that, by the end of the season, he will be scoring 50s," said Seedle.

"Not least when he realises that it's easier to get a collection for 50 runs than taking six wickets for whatever," he laughed.

It's early days for Donald to weigh up the standards of the opposition, having only played two games in wet, cold conditions.

But he has quickly settled into the dressing room at Rishton and is delighted with what he has found.

"I think the attitude of our players has been fantastic," he said.

"They really have gone about things the right way.

"I have told them that, because we are the champions, a lot of teams will be after our blood.

"But their approach has been great."

Donald might have to wait a bit longer for the weather to turn genuinely to summer but, if the tracks do get harder, there could be fireworks.

"Once it gets a bit warmer, I'll be looking to experiment," he added, ominously for the batsmen who are padding up, Michelin Man-style, ready to face him.

His arrival has certainly boosted the confidence in the Rishton ranks, not that it was low anyway, after last year's title success.

But Seedle explained what an impact Donald had made on them.

"As a team, we don't expect to get beaten with him in the side," he said. "If we can score 100/110 or more then we are confident we can defend it and bowl sides out.

"And when the weather gets better, I think we will see him turning in seven and eight-wicket performances.

"What impresses me most about him is his attitude.

"A lot of Test players would have looked at the conditions and been running in tentatively off four or five paces.

"But he doesn't act like a superstar, he's just like one of the lads already."

Seedle himself has felt the benefit, opening the bowling with the world's fastest.

He has picked up eight victims in the opening two games at a cost of just a fraction over six runs apiece to help get him off to a flying start at Rishton, along with Donald.

It's the season's first double-header this weekend, with Rishton away to Burnley tomorrow and at home to Nelson on Sunday.

Peter Sleep is lined up to deputise for Ramsbottom again, but Bacup expect to have Roger Harper ready for his first game of the season, fresh from the West Indies-New Zealand confrontation in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Nelson should have their pro Joe Scuderi back in action this weekend.

The Aussie missed last Sunday's defeat at East Lancs with a back injury.

Tomorrow's Lancashire League fixtures: Accrington v Bacup, Burnley v Rishton, East Lancs v Church, Nelson v Haslingden, Ramsbottom v Colne, Rawtenstall v Enfield, Todmorden v Lowerhouse.

Rishton are holding a fund-raising "Race Night" in the club house at Blackburn Road tomorrow night, start 8-30pm.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.