Cullinan smarts at the sting of the axe

Daryll Cullinan's had a lot of press in his time, both good and bad. It says something for his resilience and for the pride he takes in his craftsmanship that he's still willing to front up to his critics.

Cullinan will miss South Africa's bid for the ICC Trophy in Nairobi next month. He was left out of the squad for Kenya after his form dipped towards the end of the three-leg winter tour to Sri Lanka, Australia and Singapore.

This writer, for instance, suggested that by the time South Africa reached Singapore, Cullinan was finding it difficult to get the ball off the square.

"Really?" was his response this week. "I got 31 not out off 23 balls in the Singapore final. I think I was managing to get it off the square."

In other words, Cullinan's not about to willingly accept the axe. In another respect, though, he finds himself in a curious position. At the beginning of the year he announced that he no longer wished to be considered for the South African one-day team.

The responsibilities and attractions of family life and fatherhood had clearly begun to beckon and at the time Cullinan said that he had stopped enjoying one-day cricket.

That, however, was before the match-fixing scandal broke and South Africa suddenly found themselves without Hansie Cronje. Quite apart from the captaincy, a mantle bravely inherited by Shaun Pollock, South Africa suddenly found an enormous hole yawning the middle order.

When Cullinan first announced his partial retirement, few eyebrows were raised. But with Cronje no longer around, a premium was suddenly placed on Cullinan's craft and experience. And when the United Cricket Board came to negotiate new contracts this year, Cullinan had to accept a two-year deal in terms of which he had to agree to be available for both the Test and one-day teams.

Less than six months after being press ganged into playing one-day cricket, however, Cullinan finds himself surplus to requirements. The official line was that the selectors felt a little more oomph was needed in the middle order. It is also the case that South Africa have officially started to look towards the 2003 World Cup.

In either case, though, Cullinan could be forgiven if he feels a little perplexed by his omission. He remains South Africa's most skilful middle order batsman. And he might well have been left wondering if the year 2000 isn't just a tad soon to be putting a 2003 team together.

"I've been dropped before," he says. "And you just have to be philosophical about it. If I want to get back into the one-day side, then I'll have to get runs in provincial one-day cricket. If I'm to be absolutely honest with myself, though, the passion and commitment for the one-day game hasn't always been there during the past couple of years."

To a degree, this is the result of batting number at four in the one-day side and, as a result, being shuffled around if and when pinch-hitters have been used. He prefers to bat at three in the short game and argues that his record at first drop stands comparison with most.

He won't be drawn into the obvious point that it might not be a bad thing for South Africa to drop Jacques Kallis down the order, but agrees that "it's tough for Jacques to bat there and take the new ball. One-day cricket is very taxing mentally".

Surely, though, Cullinan need not worry about his Test place. Although he did not build on his century the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, his unbeaten 114 in a lost match was perhaps as influential as any innings he has played.

While Muttiah Muralitharan spun a web around the South Africans, Cullinan took guard almost around off stump and used his strength to leg to attack the offspinner. It was a strategy Cullinan had planned in advance and he is, understandably, pleased by its success.

"The point about Murali is that he's going to bowl 40 or 50 overs and if he does he's going to take wickets. I wanted to attack him whenever possible, and it worked for me in that innings," he says.

The real significance of the hundred, though, lay in its influence on Cullinan's team-mates. He had shown that Muralitharan could be played and, after losing the first Test match by some distance, South Africa came back to win the second and give themselves a decent chance of winning the third in a drawn series. Without Cullinan's example, South Africa might well have floundered through the series.

He is, he confesses, more at home in Test cricket, in a form of the game that better suits his temperament. The moods and shifts of Test cricket satisfy and comfort Cullinan to a greater extent than the biff and bang of the limited overs version.

Yet, in a roundabout way, the South African selectors may have persuaded Cullinan to relaunch his one-day career by dropping him. At 33, Cullinan still has a bit left to offer.