RIP David Pullan 1944 - 2022

 

David Anthony Pullan was born on 1st May 1944 at Farsley in Yorkshire and was very much regarded as a specialist wicket-keeper. A right-handed bat he never had any great prowess with the willow. Having appeared for Yorkshire Cricket Federation Juniors and Yorkshire Under 18s he made his debut for Yorkshire Seconds against Durham in the Minor Counties Championship fixture in 1961. It was another four years before he appeared again, making 10 appearances in 1965. Awarded his Yorkshire Second XI Cap in 1966, he top scored with 56 not out against Cheshire at Wallasey, an innings he never threaten to repeat during his career. A further four Minor Counties fixtures followed in 1967. In 17 Minor Counties fixtures for Yorkshire Seconds, he had gained 38 dismissals (including 12 stumpings) and scored 118 runs @9.83. Pullan played club cricket for Huyton in the Liverpool and District Competition in 1967 and 1968. At the rather advanced age of 26, Notts signed Pullan as wicket-keeper to replace Deryck Murray who, although playing for the Rest of the World side in 1970, was studying at Nottingham University and did not play wish to play county cricket. Murray subsequently joined Warwickshire in 1972. Pullan, had followed a well-trodden path from Yorkshire to Notts, and rather unusually for a debutant was an ever-present in the 1970 first-class season. He made his first-team debut in a John Player League match v Northants at Trent Bridge, Notts winning the contest by 17 runs with his maiden keeping victim being last man Sarfraz Nawaz, also making his List A debut, caught by Pullan off the bowling of Garry Sobers. His first-class debut followed six days later versus Warwickshire, also at Trent Bridge, his initial first-class victim being Neal Abberley. He kept well all season with 73 dismissals in 25 first-class matches and a further nine dismissals in 11 List A matches. Runs, though were sparse, 111 first-class runs @11.44 and 20 runs @6.66 in List A cricket. His proficiency behind the stumps can be gauged by the fact he remained a regular for the following two seasons; appearing in 27 out of the 28 Notts first-class matches (58 catches and 8 stumpings) in 1971 and 21 of 22 first-class games in 1972 (49 catches and 2 stumpings). In the last match of 1972, Pullan made his highest first-class score of 34 versus Warwickshire at Trent Bridge. In 1973 he missed six first-class games, obtaining 27 victims in 16 first-class matches. Now batting at eleven, Pullan was in the line-up in the opening six first-class matches in 1974 before making his final first-team appearance in a massive innings and 101 runs 2-day championship defeat against Hampshire at Trent Bridge. His place behind the stumps was taken by Pasty Harris as Notts desperately tried to bolster their batting line-up. Pullan left the Notts staff at the end of the 1974 season, although he did make a further seven appearances in the Notts Second Eleven in 1975. He returned to Trent Bridge in 1979, appointed as General Manager to 'develop and improve facilities on the ground and to encourage sponsorship and the interest of local businesses in the Club'. He left in 1982 to make the short hop to the City Ground, as Commercial Manager for Nottingham Forest FC, where he stayed for many years. In 2000 he commenced a seven-year period as Director of Ilkeston Town Football Club. A regular attendee at the annual Notts Old Players Reunions he died on 6th October 2022, aged 78 years. Pullan thrice took five first-class dismissals in an innings, all at Trent Bridge, viz: versus Essex in 1970, versus Hampshire in 1971 and versus Derbyshire in 1972. In List A cricket, his top score was 18 not out versus Worcestershire at New Road in 1970 and he made four dismissals (3 catches and a stumping) in a John Player fixture at Lord’s in 1971. His career record for Notts is given below:

BATTING	M	I	NO	RUNS	HS	AV’GE	CT	ST	100	50	30	0
First-Class	95	106	36	613	34	8.75	207	27			3	18
List A	49	18	6	38	18*	3.16	43	2	-	-	-	7