Cricket: Crisis of identity

SOUTH AFRICA'S batsmen were put in double jeopardy yesterday when they found identical twins fielding side by side for much of the opening day of their three-day tour match against Northern Districts in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The presence of James and Hamish Marshall, who are virtually impossible to tell apart, confused players, spectators and even the scorers. In addition, there were two other pairs of brothers in the side. Herschelle Gibbs was the first man to involve the 20-year-old twins when his innings ended at 57 with a drive to mid-on. Scorers, commentators and spectators had to wait until lunch to discover that James had taken the catch. When the Northern Districts captain, Robbie Hart, brought on one of the Marshalls to bowl, officials and spectators had to wait until tea to discover the bowler was James.

The dilemma provided the only fun for the home side as the tourists rattled up 407 for 4 declared and, with the joke wearing thin, the arrival of the twins' father, Drew, in the scorers' room seemed to have solved the problem, but no. The embarrassed Mr Marshall had to admit: "They normally wear something different, which helps, but I have no idea which is which from here... their Mum might know."