Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 26 : The Indian Premier League is set to start with a bang at Newlands, with four games on the first two days of the series.

The final programme will be finalised today, but it has been learned that the series will start at Newlands on 18 April with an opening ceremony and two games.

Provincial cricket bosses were scurrying on Wednesday to make arrangements for the series, which starts in 23 days’ time.

Johannesburg (South Africa), Mar. 26 : The Australian cricket team has had their first full training session at the Wanderers Ground here in preparation for their Twenty20 series against South Africa.

The squad of 16 was one man short on Wednesday with fast bowler Nathan Bracken absent after having attended a family funeral earlier this week.

The New South Wales left-arm fast bowler has since arrived in Johannesburg and is expected to train with the team ahead of Friday''s opening match. The second Twenty20 match will be played at the Centurion on Sunday.

Cape Town, Mar. 25 : The poor performance of the South African cricket team in the opening match of a series has left coach Mickey Arthur frustrated.

Arthur said he failed to understand why his team always struggles to put on a credible show in the first Test of a series.

"I am frustrated with the situation. That is why we got together five days before the first Test rather than the usual three days," the Die Burger newspaper quoted Arthur, as saying.

Cape Town, Mar. 25 : Proteas coach Mickey Arthur has express his unhappiness over the proposed triangular series with India and Zimbabwe in June.

Arthur said he wants the team to rest and prepare for the Champions Trophy which would be held in South Africa in September.

He said the team needs proper rest between the two mega events, the Twenty 20 World Cup in June and the Champions Trophy, Sports24 reports.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 25 : The double series score line of 3-3 should be seen as a befitting result for the heavyweight encounter between Australia and South Africa, as it went the distance, and allowed both combatants to emerge with credit and honour.

According to Fox Sports, the larger question that arises is the International Cricket Council rankings. For the moment, Australia is the number one Test side in the world, but South Africa is nipping at its heels.

Johannesburg - Madagascar's deposed president, Marc Ravalomanana, has based himself in South Africa, from where he travelled to Swaziland for meetings this week over his ouster from office, a Swazi official said Wednesday.

Swazi King Mswati III currently chairs the security organ or troika of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar is a member.