/ 17 December 1999

AFRICAN SUPER CUP CHANGES

THE African Super Cup match between hosts Raja Casablanca of Morocco and Africa Sports of Cote d’Ivoire has been rescheduled for the weekend of March 4-5, the organisers announced on Friday. The annual fixture between the winners of the Champions League and the Cup Winners Cup was planned for January 15 or 16, but these dates clashed with the world championship in Brazil. Raja will represent Africa at the world event and play hosts Corinthians, Al-Nasr of Saudi Arabia and Real Madrid of Spain between January 5-10 in Sao Paulo. Zamalek of Egypt have won the Super Cup twice and Africa Sports and ASEC of Cote d’Ivoire, Esperance and Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia and Orlando Pirates of South Africa once.

KOERTZEN CLEARED TO UMPIRE

THE United Cricket Board of South Africa said on Wednesday it had ”no reason” to stop the umpire Rudi Koertzen standing in the fifth Test against England at Centurion Park. Koertzen, who has admitted making a couple of mistakes in the drawn second Test at Port Elizabeth earlier this week, was, in England’s eyes, responsible for several bad decisions in the match. But Brian Basson, the UCB’s director of umpires, said he had no reason to reconsider Koertzen’s appointment for the final Test on January 14. ”There’s been a lot of talk about bad umpiring decisions and I’m not prepared to comment on that,” he said. ”What I will say is that Rudi Koertzen is a very good umpire. As such I have no reason to change his appointment.” Basson revealed he had received England’s Test report from Nasser Hussain on Wednesday but refused to divulge its contents and said England did not have the right to appeal.