The International Cricket Council (ICC) has hit back at South Africa’s stand-in captain Faf du Plessis for appealing against the decision, which saw him getting penalised for ball tampering.
The apex body of the game found the Proteas star guilty of breaking the code of conduct after investigating a video that showed the player shining the ball with an artificial substance during the second Test against Australia and fined him 100 percent of his match fee.
The statement released by the ICC, which was read out by chief executive Dave Richardson, stated: “The ICC is disappointed that Faf du Plessis has chosen not to accept the findings of Match Referee Andy Pycroft and will instead exercise his right to appeal.”
Criticising the player, the ICC declined to comment anything on the issue for the time being but made sure to remind everyone of the rules.
The statement said:“The ICC will wait until the completion of the appeal before making full comment, but at this stage, it is important to clarify the Laws of cricket. These state that a player should not use artificial substances to shine the ball.
Well, while the rule allows players to shine the ball, it does not permit them to use any artificial substance on it. Law 42.3 states: “Any fielder may polish the ball provided that no artificial substance is used and that such polishing wastes no time”.
The statement further read:“The ICC’s understands that to include, but is not limited to, sunscreen, lip ice and residue from sweets.
“The ICC does not wish to prevent players from using these substances for legitimate purposes, however, any deliberate attempt to apply such substances to the ball, as was the case here, will not be acceptable.
“This will continue to be reported and the ICC confirms that unless the Laws are changed, the current practice of charging players when the evidence shows an obvious breach will continue. ICC Umpires will remind all teams of the Laws as they stand.
“Following the appeal, we will review the matter along with our members and the MCC to see if there are any learnings to be taken from this issue.”
Earlier, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced their player had decided to appeal the decision.
CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat on Thursday, said:“Faf has decided to appeal the match referee’s decision after he and his legal team had studied the written reasons provided by the match referee.
“In his mind, Faf is clear that he did not alter the condition of the ball nor did he intend to do so and that the match referee was not correct to find him guilty. He is understandably feeling aggrieved.”