Sydney, Dec. 16 : The owner of the baggy green cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman in his final Test for Australia has sold the historic cap for a loss.

Auctioneer Charles Leski was quoted by Fox Sports as saying that the cap sold on Tuesday for an undisclosed sum over 400,000 dollars after it was passed in without a bid at auction last night.

Perth, Dec. 16 : South Africa''s mental conditioning coach Jeremy Snape, a former England off-spinner, last night disclosed that the Proteas players are attending secret psychological workshops to mentally torment their Australian opponents in the Test series starting from Wednesday.

The Courier Mail quoted Snape, as saying that he had instructed the Proteas to disregard past failures in Australia.

The man with a masters degree in sports psychology has hosted workshops for the South Africans where he insisted the battle of the minds would be easier without Australia''s retired champions.

Wellington, Dec. 16 : New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram has been ruled out of the second cricket Test against the West Indies starting Friday due to a calf strain.

Oram, who reported his latest injury two days before the drawn first Test started in Dunedin on Thursday, will focus on returning for the Twenty20 and one-day international legs of the West Indies'' visit.

The first Twenty20 international is in Auckland at Eden Park on Boxing Day.

The second is at Hamilton two days later before the five-match one-day series starts in Queenstown on New Year''s Eve.

Kyle Mills replaced Oram in Dunedin and is a possibility to play again after bowling impressively at University Oval.

Dubai, Dec 15 (ANI): South Africa will overtake Australia at the top if it wins series 3-0; India will retake second place if it beats England in Mohali.

South Africa will go top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table if it beats Australia 3-0 in the three-match series that gets underway in Perth on Wednesday.

Graeme Smith's team gets its tour underway in earnest with two fast bowlers - Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn - in the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Player Rankings on a WACA surface that traditionally favours the pace men.

Sydney, Dec 15 : Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has reinforced the worth of a spinner in Perth, despite the WACA's reputation as a spin bowler's graveyard.

Clarke insisted, though, that the decision on whether to play Jason Krejza instead of a fourth paceman would not be coloured by the result of last January's Perth Test, in which the home team fielded four quicks only for India to win by 72 runs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

History has not been kind to spinners in Perth, where Indian legend Bishan Bedi is the only slow bowler to have claimed 10 wickets in a match, and the great Shane Warne did not gather more than six victims in a Test.

Sydney, Dec 15 : The withdrawal of Australian pace bowler Stuart Clark from the three-Test series has provided a huge boost for South Africa, but coach Mickey Arthur has warned his batsmen of the dangers of complacency against an attack that still features Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

The Proteas had identified Clark as Australia's main pace weapon, and with good reason, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The 33-year-old shredded the South Africans in his debut series, taking 20 wickets at 15.85 in three Tests and removing Jacques Kallis on four occasions.