Pace bowlers Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell shared six wickets Tuesday on the opening day of South Africa's two-day warmup game against Indian Cricket Board President's XI at Nagpur. Morkel claimed 3-24 and Parnell 3-66 in the Board President's XI total of 318 that featured a century from middle-order batsman Abhishek Nayar. Nayar posted a composed knock of 100 and shared an innings-reviving, seventh-wicket stand of 181 with Shikhar Dhawan (70) after the team slumped to 114-6. In reply, South Africa was 44 without loss at stumps, with skipper Graeme Smith on 30 and Ashwell Prince on 13. South Africa will play two Tests and three one-dayers on its tour to India. The opening Test match begins Saturday in Nagpur. Scores: President's-XI 318 (Abhishek Nayar 100, Shikhar Dhawan 70, Rohit Sharma 20; Morne Morkel 3-24, Wayne Parnell 3-66); South Africa 44 for no loss (Graeme Smith 30 not out, Ashwell Prince 13 not out). No spectators allowed for Duleep Trophy final The final of India's regional Duleep Trophy competition will be played behind closed doors because organizers fear crowd trouble in Hyderabad from political protesters. Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) says it is not going to allow any spectators inside the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium for the five days of the inter-zonal match which began Tuesday. Shivlal Yadav, vice president of HCA, said the “gates have been closed due to security reasons as we do not want the match to be interrupted.” A domestic Twenty20 match was disrupted in January by political activists, who were cleared by police after staging a sit-in protest to highlight their demand for the splitting of the southern Andhra Pradesh state.
