Jacques Kallis and Adam Gilchrist stood by Matthew Hayden and refused to accuse him of cheating after Hayden had controversially claimed a catch to dismiss Jacques Rudolph during the opening day of the third Test at Johannesburg.

The moment came when South Africa had reached 4 for 161. Rudolph, on 25, flashed at Shane Warne and the ball flew low to first slip where Hayden thrust his hands forward, held the ball, and came up with the appeal. The umpire Tony Hill was asked for clarification and after meeting with Steve Bucknor gave Rudolph out. The television replays could not confirm whether it was taken cleanly and boos ringed around the arena as Rudolph walked back to the pavilion.

"It's a tough one, we can only go on the evidence we saw on TV and you can't really say," Kallis, the stand-in captain, told reporters. "You have to take Hayden's word on it. Jacques felt it was tight but it's difficult for him to say because it went fast. You tend to take the fielder's word on it; Hayden's not the type to cheat."

Gilchrist also said he thought it was a clean catch. "At the time, I thought he'd [Hayden] got it and I haven't seen any replays. I believe there has only been one replay of it and it's a little bit inconclusive but Haydos's reaction was that he had it and my gut feeling at the time was that it was there. All we do then is just ask the question. It's like a caught behind or an lbw. Bucknor obviously confirmed that it was up so we can only take it on that value."