Just days after captain Hansie Cronje ignited the controversy when television film appeared to show him pressing the ball under his boot spikes during the one-day match against Australia in Sydney, Prue is reported to have raised the South Africans' habit of rolling the ball or bouncing it back to the bowler. The action could be interpreted as a tactic to rough up the ball and gain more swing and movement.

An ACB spokesman said that the umpires' report was expected in Melbourne next week but that its contents would remain confidential.

Cronje said after the Devonport game that his players sometimes bounced or rolled the ball on the ground ``for fun'' and at other times to ``get one side of the ball rough''. There is no clear ruling on such a tactic in the laws of the game.