Proteas 'lose' their baggage

Johannesburg - Members of the triumphant Proteas cricket team arrived at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg on Wednesday, without their baggage, reported Beeld newspaper.

In an additional bizarre incident, just after the players' cricket bags and luggage had eventually been tracked down, a man tried to run off with one of the trolleys containing a team member's bags, but was apprehended and arrested.

The Proteas flew back to South Africa in two groups after the third Test against Australia in Perth ended a day earlier than expected, in a South African victory by 309 runs.

Most of the players arrived home on Wednesday, but a smaller group, including players Alviro Petersen, Jacques Rudolph and Ryan McLaren, got back on Tuesday.

They waited in vain at the conveyor belt for more than 50 pieces of missing luggage.

Mohammed Moosajee, the Protea's team manager, said the problem probabaly stemmed from the fact that the flight from Australia was delayed by more than an hour.

SAA managed to track down the missing luggage after a long search, by which time many of the players had left to catch connecting flights.