Cricket: Weather foils Kallis

Rain was the winner and New Zealand's one-day prospects remained cloudy on their still-winless tour of South Africa as rain halted the Proteas' 12-match winning streak in the fourth one-day international in Durban.

While the weather interfered with New Zealand's efforts to retrieve some respectability from the series, there was time enough for 20 overs, during which South Africa reached 79-2 and appeared to have helped Jacques Kallis back into something approaching top form.

Kallis, who missed the third match of the series against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth on Sunday with a virus, selected and timed his strokes well for his unbeaten 24.

Shane Bond relished the bounciest pitch so far and had South Africa at 14-1 in the fourth over when AB de Villiers was caught behind for six. Captain Graeme Smith scored 22 in a stand of 38 for the second wicket with Kallis before he was trapped in front by left-arm fast bowler James Franklin.

Nathan Astle, 34, became the fourth New Zealander to play 200 one-day internationals, having made his one-day debut against West Indies in Auckland in 1995 - joining Chris Harris, Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns to the milestone.

However, the truncated match was notable only for who didn't play for South Africa. Kallis replaced Jacques Rudolph, while Andrew Hall and Albie Morkel came in for Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje.

Gibbs and Boje were left out after they withdrew from the squad that will play five one-day internationals in India this month over fears they could be detained in connection with a long-running police investigation into match-fixing. Gibbs was banned for six months and fined for agreeing to under-perform in a one-day international in Nagpur in March 2000.

Hansie Cronje, the former South African captain who was banned for life for his involvement in cricket corruption, relayed the offer to Gibbs. Boje's name was mentioned in phone conversations, although no evidence implicating Boje has been discovered.

- REUTERS/NZPA