Dubai/ Cape Town, Dec. 10 : The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sent out a clear signal to sledgers by indicating that it is seriously considering the imposition of harsher penalties for verbal abuse.

"There was also a feeling among CEC members that a stronger stance needed to be taken against players guilty of verbal abuse," The Age quoted an ICC statement, as saying.

Harsher interpretations and penalties for players would be a bitter pill for the Australian players to swallow, given their tradition of "mental disintegration" to unsettle opponents.

Cape Town (South Africa), Dec. 9 : The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee met here on December 7 and 8 and discussed a range of issues relating to the playing and the business of cricket, some of which will be considered by the ICC Board when it next meets, in Perth at the end of January.

The results of the meeting were as follows:

Cape Town (South Africa), Dec. 6: South African all rounder Jacques Kallis has revealed that coach Duncan Fletcher has a new plan to beat Australia.

Speaking from Cape Town, Kallis warned Australia to expect the unexpected in the three-Test series starting in Perth on December 17.

"We have worked well with Duncan and he has got some new ideas to beat Australia. He got some thoughts from the 2005 Ashes ... but he has quite a few fresh plans for Australia this time around," The Sun quoted Kallis, as saying.

Johannesburg- Cape Town's Mayor Helen Zille said Tuesday being named the world's best mayor was an incentive to keep working towards democracy in South Africa, which has been rocked by political turmoil over the past year.

Zille, who is leader of the country's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party as well as mayor of the country's oldest city, said winning the 2008 World Mayor award on Monday was a "great honour."

Cape Town - Reacting to the announcement that France's Jean- Marie Gustave Le Clezio won the Nobel prize for literature, renowned South African author Andre Brink told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Thursday he was glad, if unsurprised.

Cape Town  - South Africa's new caretaker president Kgalema Motlanthe moved quickly to soothe frayed nerves at home and among the investor community after being sworn in as a successor to outgoing president Thabo Mbeki.

Former trade union leader and longtime African National Congress member Motlanthe, 58, was elected to lead the country for the next six or seven months in a landslide vote in the National Assembly.