Cricket: Hughes may be disciplined

THE Australian Cricket Board may take disciplinary action against Merv Hughes over his confrontation with a South African spectator during the first Test in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The Australian fast bowler smashed his bat against a fence on his way to the pavilion, before exchanging heated words with the fan.

'My reaction was one of distress and disappointment,' the Australian Cricket Board chairman, Alan Crompton, said. He added that he would wait for a report from team management in South Africa before deciding whether to take further action against the 32-year-old bowler. 'It's important we hear the full story and what other facts may have been associated with it.'

The board fined Hughes Adollars 4,000 ( pounds 1,958) on Wednesday for his verbal abuse of the South African batsman, Gary Kirsten, on Sunday. The Australian leg- spinner, Shane Warne, received the same punishment after a similar outburst.

Both players had earlier been reported by the umpires and fined 1000 rand ( pounds 200) by the match referee, Donald Carr.