Daryll Cullinan

[citation needed] Cullinan has said that his most important batting fundamentals were his balance, knowing where his off-stump was and getting his defence in order.

During a regional match in South Africa, Cullinan hit fellow international Roger Telemachus for six, whereupon it ended up in the kitchen and straight into a pan of fried calamari.

[19] He made his ODI debut on 9 February 1993 against Pakistan at Durban during the 1992–93 Total International Series but he was dismissed for a silver duck by Waqar Younis as Pakistan registered a stunning 10 run victory defending a modest total of just 208 despite the heroics of Andrew Hudson for South Africa in the run chase.

He was a member of the side which claimed the 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup which was played between South Africa, Pakistan and India.

[31] On 27 January 1999, in an ODI against the West Indies he was given out for handling the ball to become the first South African in 42 years to be dismissed in that fashion after Russell Endean.

[33] Despite the fact that it was unlikely that the ball would land near the stumps, the West Indies captain, Brian Lara, appealed, and Cullinan was dismissed.

[34] By the time, he was batting on 46 and was ruled out by the umpires to become only the second batsman after Mohinder Amarnath to be given out for handling the ball in ODI history.

[35] In the first test of the New Zealand tour at Auckland in March 1999, he registered his career best highest test score of 275* which propelled South Africa to pile up a huge first innings total of 621/5 before the declaration call came from South African skipper Hansie Cronje, effectively dented the opportunity for Cullinan to convert his maiden double century to a triple century.

He was part of the infamous 1999 Cricket World Cup campaign where South Africa choked in the crucial moment of their World Cup semi-final against Australia as South Africa were bowled out for 213 resulting in a tie and as a result narrowly losing their way to reach the final on the back of an inferior net run rate.

[41][42] The epic choke by South Africa which was caused due to a terrible mix-up between player of the tournament Lance Klusener and tail-ender Allan Donald was proven costly and later the iconic moment was dubbed as the “birth of the chokers tag”.

[43][44] Cullinan himself played a part in South Africa's humiliating tie as he wasted as many deliveries in his sluggish innings scoring only 6 runs off 30 balls at a mediocre strike rate of 20.

[47][48] He further demonstrated his batting prowess in the first test of the Sri Lankan tour at spin friendly turning tracks in Galle International Stadium in 2000 where he went onto score a career defining century and managed to counter the threat of spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan during the knock.

[54][55] However, things turned swiftly as he announced his international retirement in 2002 under chaotic circumstances mainly due to a dispute with the cricket board.

[58] He dropped a bombshell by suddenly pulling out from the squad withdrawing himself just hours before the eve of the second test match at Cape Town in an unceremonious way and flew to Johannesburg immediately.

[62][63] The board clarified that it couldn't meet the set expectations and certain demands made by Cullinan which led to contractual dispute.

[64] Cullinan scored only 153 runs averaging 12.75 in seven test matches against Australia, falling to Shane Warne on four occasions.

[18] He served as a consultant to Namibian team at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers where Namibia registered three victories including a famous win over giant-killers Ireland in their opening fixture.

[84] During the tail-end of his career, he had a dramatic fallout with the South African cricket authorities as he went on to question the selection of black players in the side and also criticized the quota system.

[85] In an autobiography written by former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs, Gibbs made claims and accusations that Cullinan had exposed the team-mates including Roger Telemachus, Andre Nel, Gibbs, Justin Kemp and Paul Adams for smoking marijuana during South Africa's tour of the West Indies in 2001 where players had apparently smoked as part of victory celebrations following their series over the West Indies.