South African international Dave Callaghan played just one game for Nottinghamshire – against the West Indies touring side at Trent Bridge in July 1988, in which he batted once and scored 29 runs. It was though a notable one-off, as he became only the fifth player to take a first-class wicket for Notts with his very first delivery (now a sixth, Steve Sylvester has added to the list).
“They batted first and captain Tim Robinson brought me on to bowl the final over before lunch. Keith Arthurton was on strike", he explained, “I enjoyed bowling to left-handers and I delivered an in-swinger to bowl Keith through the gate. It was the perfect delivery first ball".
His only other First-Class game for an English team was a guest appearance for the MCC in 2000, when he made 54.
Callaghan, born in Queenstown, Cape Province on 1 February 1965 played in 29 ODIs for South Africa over a span of eight years without ever commanding a regular spot. His place in the record books comes courtesy of his only ODI score over 50; in the 1994 Mandela Trophy limited-overs tournament he scored 169no off 143 balls, including four sixes. This remains the highest score in ODIs by a batsman with only one 50-plus knock in their career. He also took his career best figures of 3 for 32 -- and ran out New Zealand's star batsman Martin Crowe - and the obvious choice for man of the match. Callaghan's innings was his first after recovering from testicular cancer.
In his First-Class career, Callaghan made 7,730 runs at 36.11 with a top score of 171, 18 centuries and 37 fifties; his bowling figures show 126 wickets at 29.07 with ten wickets in a match once.
The former Proteas all-rounder still plays as much cricket as he can, representing Old Grey in his local premier league and coaching at Nelson Mandela University, where his son Sean plays.
Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Callaghan had been named as captain of his country for the Over 50s World Cup, which had been scheduled to take place in Cape Town in March.
Away from the game, he recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with Capitec Bank, where he works as a Sales Business Manager.
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 509