THE third day's play in the fourth Test between West Indies and India in St John's, Antigua was again abandoned because of the state of the pitch yesterday.

Umpires Steve Bucknor and Bulathsinghalage Cooray made their decision to abort after a fourth inspection of the ground and decided that although the weather conditions were ideal for cricket throughout the day, the rain of the last two days had left the outfield still waterlogged.

Efforts were being made to get some type of cricket over the remaining two days and it was being mooted that either two limited-overs internationals be staged or that the tour itinerary be revised so that a Test can start today.

Australia relied on their reserve strength to beat South Africa by 15 runs in Durban on Saturday and level their seven-match one-day series at 2-2. The tourists posted a moderate total of 211, a score captain Ian Healy typified as "a 60-40 score" for the tourists.

But it was mainly thanks to a fighting 77 from Adam Gilchrist, who only joined the tour when Healy was suspended for two matches, that Australia passed the 200 mark after they lost the wickets of Stuart Law, Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan for just one run.

The total was to prove more than adequate despite a last-ditch 41 not out from Man-of-the-Match Shaun Pollock. And again, it was a back-up player who did most of the damage.

Andrew Bichel, called into the side at the last minute when Paul Reiffel went down with flu, snapped up three for 43 to break the back of the South African middle-order.

Meanwhile, Pakistan emphasised their one-day supremacy over Zimbabwe by fighting back to score a facile 93-run victory in the Sharjah Cup in the United Arab Emirates yesterday.

Zimbabwe appeared set to improve their 1-10 record against the former world champions when they bowled out Pakistan for a modest 187 and then reached 39 for no loss by the ninth over.