Proteas captain Faf du Plessis has been fined 100% of his match fee to the charge of ball tampering in the second Test against Australia in Hobart last week, but he will be available to play in the third and final Test in Adelaide on Thursday.
According to the article 2.2.9 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct, Du Plessis was guilty of “changing the condition of the ball in breach of Law 42.3 of the Laws of Cricket, as modified by ICC Standard Test Match, ODI and Twenty20 International Match Playing Conditions clause 42.1.”
ICC match referee Andy Pycroft moved Du Plessis’s hearing to 3:30pm Adelaide time (7:30am SA time) on Tuesday “in the interests of expediency and in order to protect the integrity of the Adelaide Test".
Du Plessis did not attend training on Tuesday as he was required to be present at the hearing with team manager Mohammed Moosajee. David Becker, the former general counsel for the ICC, assisted Du Plessis via teleconference with legal advice.
Proteas coach Russell Domingo, who spoke to the media an hour before Du Plessis’s hearing did not want to be critical of the ICC’s processes, but did believe his captain committed a routine practise out on the cricket field.
"You see it daily with those types of instances taking place on the field. I don't want to talk about the [Faf] incident too much but it seems to be a daily occurrence on the field of play so they [the administrators] might need to re-look at that should they feel its not within the spirit of the game," Domingo told the media.
The fine is Du Plessis's second for ball tampering after previously being docked 50% of his match fees after being caught on TV working the ball over the pocket zip.
Independent Media