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by Dave James

JOHANNESBURG, Wednesday, - Bitter rivals Australia and Pakistan were locked in a racism row on Wednesday as the 2003 World Cup plunged into another crisis.

With the tournament already rocking from the fallout from England's controversial decision to boycott their scheduled match in Zimbabwe and spin king Shane Warne on his way home after failing a drugs test, the last thing organisers needed was more controversy.

But the problems which are engulfing the tournament increased when Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a racial slur on his Australian counterpart Adam Gilchrist.

Sources told AFP that the incident occured during Pakistan's innings in Tuesday's highly-charged World Cup match at the Wanderers when Latif turned around to Gilchrist and allegedly shouted an obscene racial remark.

Gilchrist informed his team management about the remark, which in turn reported the matter to the ICC's match referee Clive Lloyd. Latif's abuse of Gilchrist came a few hours after Pakistani captain Waqar Younis was ordered out of the attack for sending down a vicious beamer at Australia's century-maker Andrew Symonds.

Amid a heated exchange between the two players, angry English umpire David Shepherd ordered Waqar out of the attack while spinner Shahid Afridi sent down the remaining three deliveries.

Waqar apologised for the beamer at a media conference after the match.

There were also reports of a post-match altercation between Pakistan quick Shoaib Akhtar and Australian batsman Matthew Hayden.

Veteran South African paceman Allan Donald suffered a setback to his World Cup dream when he was dropped for his team's second match against Kenya in Potchefstroom.

Donald suffered badly at the hands of the West Indians on Sunday when South Africa slumped to defeat by three runs and he paid the price by beig axed from the team to be replaced by fellow quick bowler Charl Langeveldt.

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