South Africa fans claimed their national anthem was "butchered" when it was cut short at the start of the World Cup match against West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Thursday.Only half of the stirring anthem was played before the sound was abruptly halted, much to the consternation of the smattering of fans inside the stadium.
"As if the World Cup has not been boring enough, now our national anthem gets butchered. Another failure," wrote one fan on Twitter. Another said: "...messed up our national anthem at the start of the match...so who's to blame?" South African team management said they had received an apology for the problem which was blamed on a technical hitch. "The International Cricket Council has apologised on behalf of the hosts and have stressed that this will not happen again," said team manager Mohamed Moosajee.