/ 4 February 1998

The Waugh of the words

WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM:

SOUTH African skipper Hansie Cronje believes that Aussie centurion Mark Waugh should have been given out after knocking over his stumps on the final day of the third Test on Tuesday.

A bitterly disappointed Cronje said at a press conference on Tuesday evening: “Mate, if somebody gets hit on the head, and he’s a bit wobbly, and he walks on the stumps, he’s out. That’s what I say. Nothing more than that.”

Cronje and Aussie captain Mark Taylor both agreed that the incident will not sour relations between the two sides, and Cronje said that no further action will be taken.

South Africa’s top umpire Cyril Mitchley said on Tuesday that he would have given Waugh out, hit wicket, had he been standing in the Test at Adelaide.

“There was no doubt in my mind he was out,” Mitchley said at the Kimberley Country Club, where he was officiating the match between Griquas and the touring Pakistanis.

03