Faf du Plessis found guilty but available for Adelaide Test

The South African skipper Faf du Plessis faced an ICC (International Cricket Council) hearing at 3:30 p.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Tuesday in Adelaide to answer the allegations of ball tampering in the second Test match at Hobart, which also put his participation in the third Test in doubt.

Du Plessis was charged after the footage emerged has seen him applying saliva to the ball with a lolly in his mouth. Du Plessis has been fined 100% of his match fee after been found guilty of a level 2 offense for ball-tampering, but he will feature in the third Test.

South Africans argued against it as they said that there is no proof that the mint affected the ball, but ICC stuck to the charges they laid down on Friday, stating that he breached Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

Earlier, the former skipper and South African opener, Hashim Amla laughed at the accusations as a joke before Du Plessis was charged by the ICC. All the South African players stood by their captain and denied that their skipper hasn’t done anything wrong.

Also Read – Yet another turning track awaits Cook’s England in Mohali

Zunaid Wadee, the South African security officer physically clashed with Nine Network reporter Will Crouch when he was trying to protect du Plessis from questions regarding the ball tampering controversy.

Team manager Mohammed Moosajee defended Wadee’s actions and criticized the reporter. “The Australian media and Channel 9 News, in particular, have been advised on numerous occasions over the past few days that Cricket South Africa and captain, Faf du Plessis, are not in a position to comment on the alleged ball-tampering issue,” he said in a statement.

“However, despite our best intentions to co-operate with the Australian media, Channel 9 News’ behavior has been disappointing,” he added.

Also Read – England skipper Alastair Cook feels England are still very much in the series

Moosajee said the reporter “disrespected” the South Africa team by continuing to “harass Faf for comment.”

“The ‘reporter’ was also in the unusual position of being in the middle of the players’ walkway to the bus,” he said. “He was advised to move three times and did not adhere to this request. The ‘reporter’, who also had no official accreditation, then proceeded to lunge towards Faf with an unknown object causing a direct breach of security protocol. The reporter also shoved the team manager in the back.”