As a cricketer, Imran Khan was a tough competitor and when facing him you knew you were in for a contest. I played against him mostly during World Series Cricket (WSC) from 1977 to 1979, after a brief encounter in Australia's opening contest of the 1975 World Cup. In the intervening period, Imran graduated from a medium-fast bowler into a speedster with the ability to swing the ball late. As a faster bowler he wasn't afraid to dig the ball in short and test the batsman's desire to play horizontal bat shots.

In the first World Series Cricket day/night encounter at the football stadium in Melbourne, he let me have a short delivery that I despatched to the mid-wicket boundary. As I jogged to the non-striker's end, I mentioned to Imran: "That's what will happen if you continue to bowl that rubbish." His head whirled around and in that deeply resonating voice he growled; "We'll see about that." The next bouncer, which followed immediately, was a few kmph faster and whistled past my ear as I took evasive action. I decided when it came to Imran it might be advisable to keep my thoughts to myself.