South African woes continue; lose money, apparels

Colombo, Aug 12 (UNI) The beleagured South African team has been hogging the limelight for all the wrong reasons and after Amla-Dean Jones fiasco they have now been robbed of their money and apparels.

The visiting team today lodged a complaint with the local police that cash worth 1.2 lakh Sri Lankan Rupees and some of the team apparels have been stolen during their stay at the five-star hotel Taj Samudra.

These included 75,000 and 46,000 Sri Lankan Rupee of Jacques Rudolph and Makhaya Ntini respectively, team jerseys and jackets of Roger Telemachus and Robin Peterson, and official sponsors kit of media manager Gordon Templeton.

''We discovered it only at the time of packing our things when we moved out (of Taj Samudra),'' team sources told UNI today.

The incident has added to the miseries of the Proteas who lost the two-Test series against Sri Lanka 2-0 and are also facing injury problems ahead of their tri-series opener against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Speedster Makhaya Ntini suffered a hamstring injury during the second and final Test while former captain Shaun Pollock, who missed the first Test to remain with his wife at the time of the birth of their second child, is also reportedly facing fitness concerns.

UNI XC PDS VC2000