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THE SA cricket squad were caught up in controversy for the second time in a week when they angered their English hosts by supporting South Africa's bid to host the World Cup soccer tournament in 2006.

The South Africans were yesterday accused of ``dirty tricks'' and a ``blatantly provocative stunt'' when they turned up at the Oval on Friday for net practice ahead of their first-round tie against England.

Wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan ``I back South Africa 2006'', the South Africans offended the Eng-lish press, particularly those newspapers which over the past few months have sought to promote England's bid to host the soccer World Cup by focusing on South Africa's high crime rate.

``It was a blatantly provocative stunt by the South Africans, coming just hours before the Prince of Wales hosted a dinner at Highgrove for the 24 members of Fifa's executive committee who will decide the venue for the 2006 tournament,'' said the Daily Mail. Other journalists agreed, saying that the T-shirt slogans were a direct snub to Prince Charles, who has lent royal support to the British government's attempts to woo Fifa.

Fifa, soccer's world governing body, is also considering requests from Germany and Brazil to host the tournament in 2006.

SA captain Hansie Cronje told reporters while posing with his ``I Back South Africa'' T-shirt that hosting the tournament in 2006 would ``mean a lot for South Africa'' and Africa as a whole.

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