PERTH, (Australia) Dec 20: South Africa’s cricket squad has officially complained that some of their players were racially abused by supporters at Perth’s WACA ground during the first Test match against Australia.

A statement issued by the team’s management late on Tuesday said racial slurs and chants were directed at Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger, Shaun Pollock, Justin Kemp and Makhaya Ntini during the third day of the match on Sunday. The match ended in a draw on Tuesday.

The South Africans said they had complained to International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad as well as John Rhodes, who manages the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security unit in Australia and New Zealand.

The statement said South African management had asked for better security to prevent any repetition of the abuse during the next two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

It said measures had been put in place for the last two days of the Perth Test and the squad had been assured they would remain for the rest of the tour.

The second Test starts in Melbourne on Boxing Day.

“We regard racial abuse in a very strong light. We deplore in the strongest terms the racial abuse by some of the spectators against our players,” Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola was quoted as saying.

Cricket Australia, the sports governing body here, also issued a statement saying it had a zero tolerance approach to racist behaviour by anyone involved with cricket — including spectators.

It said spectators who made racist comments to other patrons or players would be thrown out of the ground immediately.

Young said CA had spoken to the Western Australian Cricket Association after complaints of “unsavoury abuse by a small minority of spectators on Sunday”.—AFP