South Africa in Australia
With South Africa having conceded the psychological and public relations advantage to Australia during the current Test series already won by the home team, the United Cricket Board of South Africa has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a vote of confidence in team manager Goolam Rajah.
In a statement released in Johannesburg on New Year's Eve, UCB chief executive Gerald Majola says that: "Rajah was a long-serving manager and that the UCBSA was confident in him and in the manner in which he had conducted himself on the tour to Australia".
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All-rounder Lance Klusener has been sent home from South Africa's tour of Australia to visit his pregnant wife in the hope of regaining his confidence before the limited-overs series.
South African captain Shaun Pollock told a media conference on the eve of the third and final Test starting in Sydney on Wednesday that Klusener had been given the choice of going home for a week after being dropped from the Test side.
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Former South African captain Kepler Wessels was a stunned and disappointed viewer of the second Test capitulation at the MCG - although it didn't surprise him.
"It hurt like hell but I picked it," Wessels said in Sydney yesterday where he is on holiday and will watch the third Test between world champions Australia and Shaun Pollock's beleagured troops.
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The convener of the national selection committee has given the South African cricket team a piece of his mind, speaking of what he saw as the team's ill discipline and lack of commitment.
Rushdi Magiet also defended the selectors. He said the selectors made no mistake when they picked the 15 players for the tour to Australia.
"Those are the 15 best players in South Africa. Outside that squad the only other contenders are Charl Langeveldt as a bowler and Graeme Smith," Magiet said from Melbourne where he was watching the second Test.
An upset Magiet said the SA team played the second Test as if they had learned nothing from their mistakes in the first Test in Adelaide.
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The Australian cricket team has offered to play a benefit match to raise funds for bushfire relief.
Australian captain Steve Waugh said today his players would make themselves available as they did in 1994 when a charity match was last played for bushfire victims.
"Any thing that's required, the Australian cricket team will support it," Waugh said.
We're willing to help in any way we can on this - if (playing a game) is needed then we'll definitely play."
Waugh has some experience of the threat bushfires pose, with his house bordering a national park in Sydney's south.
"It could be me this afternoon or tomorrow, my place is not that far away," Waugh said.
Miscellaneous
Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar said here his team has the ability to dethrone Australia as the world's undisputed top side despite their current lowly international ranking of eighth.
"If there is any team in the world with the ability to beat Australia, it is Pakistan," he said.
Australia are scheduled to meet Pakistan in September in a three-Test series which the Pakistanis see as a great opportunity to beat the world leaders for the first time since 1994.
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Brian Lara's girlfriend has forgiven the West Indian batsman for hitting her in what she described as a lover's tiff on Boxing Day.
British lingerie model Lynnsey Ward had filed a complaint with Trinidad police and was treated in hospital for facial injuries after reportedly claiming Lara hit her several times at his mansion on the outskirts of the capital Port of Spain.
The 20-year-old model has withdrawn the allegation and returned to Lara's home after moving out to the Trinidad Hilton for several days.
She declined to press charges and police said Lara would not face prosecution.
"He is my hero and he is a public hero. We had a misunderstanding, but it was just a lovers' tiff, like a lot of couples have," Ward said as she kissed and cuddled Lara.
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