Cricket: Umpires received death threat in South Africa

LONDON - Cricket umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar received a death threat on the final day of the fifth test between England and South Africa, Bucknor has said.

Bucknor and Dar received additional security after a person made a telephone call to the management offices at Supersport Park in Centurion on Tuesday and threatened to shoot both men.

"I was told the threat came towards the end of the last day," Bucknor told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"I was told that the words the caller used were 'We are going to get rid of Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor, we are going to shoot them'.

"You get a lot of abuse as an umpire, but that is the first time that I have been threatened to that extent.

"I briefly thought about cutting short my stay and going home to the Caribbean but I convinced myself I'm stronger than that.

"I have to say that I am not really worried about it -- the words were serious, but I'm not sure whether the person who said them was serious.

"I'm certain it was just a hoax call."

The match, badly affected by rain, ended in a draw ensuring England's first series victory in South Africa since 1964-65.

England won the five-match series 2-1, while a seven-match one-day international series begins on Sunday.

Jamaican Bucknor will stand in the one-dayers, while Pakistan's Dar has returned home.

- REUTERS