Perth: South Africa have lodged an official complaint that some of their players were racially abused by home supporters at the Waca ground here during the first Test against Australia.

A statement issued late on Tuesday by the team management said racial slurs and chants were directed at Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp and Garnett Kruger during Day III of the match on Sunday.

The South Africans said that they had complained to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Match Referee Chris Broad, as well as John Rhodes, who manages the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit in Australia and New Zealand.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has asked for better security to prevent any repetition of the incident during the next two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, the statement read.

The second Test starts in Melbourne on Boxing Day.

“We regard this incident in a very strong light. We deplore in strongest terms the racial abuse by some spectators against our players,” CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said.

“We hope that this will not happen again, and appeal to all to abide by the ICC’s Anti-Racism Policy. We thank the relevant authorities for the assurance that the necessary protection for our players for the rest of the tour will be in place.”

Cricket Australia (CA), the sport’s governing body here, also issued a statement, saying it had a zero tolerance policy to racist behaviour by anyone involved with cricket ? including spectators.

Spectators, who made racist comments to other patrons or players would be thrown out of the ground immediately, CA said.

Meanwhile, the ICC has condemned the incident, adds another report from Dubai. “Respect for each other is a key component of the game and racist comments have no place in cricket,” ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Tuesday.

Speed said ICC had discussed the matter with CA and CSA. (AGENCIES)