Top 5 South Africa - Australia player battles

#1 Daryll Cullinan and Shane Warne

Daryll Cullinan suffered at the hands of Shane Warne more than once

Shane Warne's bullying tactics early in his career saw him dominate the battle against South Africa's middle order batsman, Daryll Cullinan. there was something about the way Warne waged a war on Cullinan that captured the imagination of the public.

"There are no mates on a cricket field," Warne had once said. Something which Cullinan would accept, albeit a bit uncomfortably.

In seven Tests he played against Warne, he scored only 153 runs at a paltry average of 12.75. Warne took his wicket on four of the 12 occasions he was dismissed, bit it felt like many more.

Cullinan arrived in the 1993-94 tour of Australia with a lofty reputation forged in his homeland. He began by sledging the Aussie batsmen in the first Test even as he shelved four catches. From then on, Warne cast his spell around him. Cullinan would be greeted with, “Is the shower already running, Daryll?” More than most, Cullinan suffered from Shane's impeccable flipper. “It's going to be the third ball, Daryll,” Shane would tell him. ”Make sure you come forward. Oh, you're out!”

Warne felt his dominance over Cullinan was more of a psychological thing. "I can only imagine he developed a bit of a phobia," Warne said. In a post-match press conference after the Wanderers Test of 1997 he said, "I didn't care how many I got, so long as I got Cullinan."