Former fast bowler Allan Donald has recalled a particularly tough challenge against Proteas teammate Daryll Cullinan in English county cricket.

Donald and Cullinan were playing for Warwickshire and Derbyshire, respectively, during the 1995 County Championship. They played against each other at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Donald took eight wickets in the match, but was unable to remove Cullinan, who hit 121 in the first innings and 37 in the second.

‘I remember when we played Derbyshire, late in the season, Daryll was their main man and I was giving him everything and he was dealing with it and playing really well. I’d only bowled three overs and was a bit surprised when captain Dermot Reeve told me to take a break and he brought himself on with his phantom wobblies,’ Donald told Warwickshire’s website.

‘Within a couple of overs he got Daryll out. He just had a knack of irritating the opposition and unsettling them and making things happen. Dermot was exceptional. He was brilliant at working out how to get the best out of people, in the case of us fast bowlers conserving our energy to get the best out of us when it was most needed.’

Donald was recently voted Warwickshire’s Greatest Ever Overseas Player. He received 48% of the votes in a poll that also included West Indian trio Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharran and Brian Lara and New Zealand spinner Jeetan Patel.

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