Boucher won't say sorry

Mark Boucher has refused to apologise for saying he lost respect for some Australian players during the Down Under Test series. He said parts of his comments were "twisted", but he would not back down from his statements that included asking the home crowd to give Australia "some stick" and admitting he had a post-match drink with his opponents only because he felt obliged.

"I'm not making any apologies for what I said or anything like that," he told AAP. "I know what I said and I meant it. If people want to take my words and twist them around, that's up to them."

In an interview with The Wisden Cricketer Boucher said South Africa took a "serious amount" of abuse from the Australian crowds on their tour. "I hope our public give them a bit of stick," he said. "In the past our crowds haven't been too great with them, but, trust me, we're not going to sit back and say, 'shame, poor things'."

Michael Hussey said during the week there had been talk on the field and Boucher confirmed "there is a bit of banter". "That's international cricket and you can't get away from that," Boucher said. "Other than that, the relationship has been very good."

Boucher said the release of the interview when Australia were about to arrive in South Africa encouraged the media to "twist my words a bit". "I never ever once said that the crowd should start abusing the Australians or anything like that, but I wasn't blind to the fact that it was probably going to happen," he said. "We don't expect any favours when we go over there and I'm sure they don't expect any favours when they come over here."

South Africa's wicketkeeper is not the only player experiencing some frustration. The allrounder Jacques Kallis has had a horribly disrupted season because of an elbow injury that forced him home from the Australia tour during the VB Series. Kallis has cleared himself for the first Test starting at Cape Town next Thursday and is determined to exploit Australia's bits-and-pieces bowling attack.

"I want to challenge myself against the best and the Australians are the best," Kallis said in The Courier-Mail. "Glenn McGrath is a huge loss. The other pace bowlers haven't taken nearly as many wickets as Glenn and that might be to our advantage." Michael Kasprowicz and Shaun Tait were included in the Test squad on Tuesday and will vie for spots with Stuart Clark in an attack spearheaded by Brett Lee.

Kallis said he could have been fit for Friday's fourth ODI at Durban, but he is expected to continue his rehabilitation. "I've started hitting some hard balls at training this week and I've felt really good," he said. "I've had a combination of rest and treatment and I've strengthened the elbow a lot. I haven't got any pain."