MIKE SELVEY, East London | Tuesday 11.00am.
THE England cricket team’s nearest and dearest fly out tonight to join them and will need no further reminding about personal security after the policeman detailed to protect their menfolk was himself mugged at knifepoint in East London, where the entire third day of the match against a combined Eastern Province and Border XI was lost to rain.
Jaco van Jaarsfeld, a detective sergeant, walked out of the England team hotel alone to go for a late meal and left his gun in his room. Crossing some scrubland 50 yards off the main road – and roughly the same distance from a funfair – he was relieved of his wallet and mobile phone by two men.
”We believe it was an isolated incident but it will serve as a reminder for the players to take all necessary precautions,” said the England team manager Phil Neale. ”We will be reminding the team of the need to walk in groups of two or three or take a taxi if they go out.”
With the third Test due to start in Durban on Boxing Day, the England players had already been advised not to let their families walk unaccompanied to the beach from their seafront hotel across a small area of parkland.
They then move on for the fourth Test in Cape Town where thousands of tourists will flock for the millennium celebrations. Cape Town has recently suffered a number of pipe bomb explosions, including the St Elmos blast in Camps Bay. — The Guardian