Whilst Cullinan, who scored a first-class hundred on debut as a raw 16-year-old in the early 1980s, is the first to admit that he has not been in the best form of late, veteran paceman Allan Donald was picked for the current tour of Australia despite suffering various injury setbacks at the beginning of the 2001/2002 season.

Cricket365's Howard Kahn caught up with Cullinan to hear his thoughts on his non-selection and the state of the national squad that is currently battling in Australia.

1. Daryll, you're a proven campaigner at both Test and One-day level for your country. Was it a major disappointment when you were left out of the touring squad for Australia? 

I would've liked to have been there, but it's not the end of the world that I wasn't selected. I'd certainly like to play for South Africa in the near future, but I'm not losing any sleep over my non-inclusion in the squad 

2. Do you think your knee operation and subsequent lay-off had an affect on your non-selection? And if so, why do you think Allan Donald was picked on reputation, but yet you weren't? 

I wouldn't be able to answer you about the squad selection. Any selection questions must be passed on to Mr Magiet. But yes, the operation did set me back. However I feel that I'm coming back to form now and my fitness level seems to be on the up.
 
3. There are rumours that you and certain members of the national squad - amongst them captain Shaun Pollock and batsman Herschelle Gibbs - did not quite see eye-to-eye with you in the West Indies. Would you care to elaborate on this? 

You'll have to ask the players themselves. Unfortunately in cricket circles there are two or three journalists out there who live and feed off that kind of stuff. They know they can't impress their readers or the players with their cricket knowledge so they have to look for something else. I'm not like that, I make a decent living. Besides, I've been in the game way too long now to let stuff like that get to me. Nowadays I don't even read the newspapers. 

4. What are your thoughts on the farce that was the Test Series between Australia and South Africa? 

It was always going to be a tough Test series, but this was certainly an eye-opener for us South Africans. Our major weaknesses were shown up, but maybe we aren't as good as we thought we were. The Australians were far superior. 

5. In hindsight was South Africa's preparation perhaps not meticulous enough? Take Glenn McGrath's line of attack against Gary Kirsten: he targeted Kirsten as a pivotal member of the South African line-up and more often than not he broke through. The Australians always seemed to have a plan, whereas the Proteas did not. 

In hindsight we're all geniuses. We had the best team there and they did have plans. Maybe we didn't have the proper plans at times or maybe they didn't come off, but we certainly had some plans there. I think the most disappointing aspect was that not one South African player stood out. They looked timid and all their reputations took a knock. 

6. Do you think Kepler Wessels's input would have made a difference to the team?
 
No. Including him in the management team at the 11th hour would have been nothing more than a promotional job. Maybe if they had involved him months in advance it would've helped.
 
7. What do you make of the theory that key positions in the batting line-up (numbers three and five) were filled by two inexperienced players in Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie? With that in mind, where should Jacques Kallis be batting in the order? 

Jacques should bat at number three. It's that simple. He welcomes the role more than bowling 20 overs a day. As far as Boeta and Neil are concerned, they're the best young batsmen in their respective positions in South Africa. It's worth persevering with them. 

8. Taking the Jacques Kallis situation into consideration - when he was mis-quoted ahead of the first Test and as a result sledged on the field of play by the Aussies - do you think the Australian media was too harsh on the South African side? 

As always, the media was hard, but the South Africans certainly didn't do themselves any favours by not being open. It would've been easier for them if they were more receptive to media and also if they were skilled enough to handle themselves. When I was in Australia the last time (in 1996/97) I didn't speak to the media at all, but looking back now it was a mistake I made. If I was on tour now I would've used their media to my advantage. 

9. Do you think the South Africans can bounce back in the VB One-day Series? 

They're still not clicking. At the moment they're still playing on emotion, which is hard to maintain for a long period. If they can click and combine it with determination that will be fine. The Australians may have started slowly in the One-day series, but they will get their act together sooner rather than later.
 
10. What do you think of South Africa's chances in the three-Test series in South Africa later this season?
 
I think we'll perform much better at home, on our own wickets, in front of our own crowds. But it'll be a tough series and I'm not sure that home ground advantage will see us through.