South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has lost his appeal against a charge of ball-tampering, which stemmed from the recent second Test in Hobart, against Australia.
Du Plessis may have lost his appeal but will still be free to play in South Africa’s Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka.
Du Plessis was found guilty by match referee Andy Pycroft of changing the condition of the ball after being caught on camera applying saliva to the ball with a mint in his mouth.
The 32-year-old was last month fined his full match fee and given three demerit points.
Du Plessis maintained his innocence and after feeling aggrieved at the verdict decided to challenge it, but the ICC’s independent commissioner Michael Beloff QC upheld the decision.
A statement on the ICC’s official website read: “Under the provisions of the ICC Code of Conduct, Mr Du Plessis was represented by legal counsel in the appeal hearing convened in Dubai on Monday that lasted two-and-a-half hours, which the player himself joined via video link.
“Having carefully considered the legal submissions made by the player and the ICC, Mr Beloff QC confirmed that Du Plessis was guilty of breaching Article 2.2.9 and that the original sanction of 100 per cent of his match fee was appropriate.”
The ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “It is the duty of the ICC to ensure fair play on the cricket field.
“Although it was not picked up by the umpires at the time, when the incident came to our attention subsequently, we felt it was our responsibility to lay a charge in this case because the ICC can’t let such an obvious breach of this law pass without taking any action.”
Cricket South Africa has accepted the decision and chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement: “We are satisfied with the matter being given due consideration by a person independent of the ICC. Both CSA and Faf believed that this appeal was imperative considering the important principles at stake.
“In our view, the fact that Mr Beloff deliberated for some time after hearing complex legal arguments from both sides demonstrates that this matter does indeed require further consideration and clarification from the ICC and the MCC.
“Notwithstanding the outcome of the appeal and Mr Beloff’s helpful rulings on the matter, we hope that further reviews of the Code of Conduct and the laws of the game takes place as players will no doubt continue to seek clarification as to what is or is not permissible in the light of this case.”
Three years ago, Du Plessis was fined 50 per cent of his match fee when he rubbed the ball on the zip of his trouser pocket.
You just have no clue of what is good for the goose should be good for the gander, eh?
I find this utterly hilarious, no mention of the fact that everyone does it in mitigation of his guilt, just guilty as charged, let the rest of the world do it, just not you.
Charl
Guest
Steve Smith "we all treat the ball the same way" - difficult words to understand and accept?
Mike from tari
Guest
Well the plain fact of the situation is that he cheated, not only that but he cheated as Captain, he was so blasé about it knowing that cameras around the ground pick up about 99.90% of what goes on in the field, whilst every commentator in Australia was singing his praises he came across to me as a "smart arse" this was shown up by his complaint that the Adelaide crowd booed him when he scored his ton, well excuse me but if you cheat against an Australian team you are gonna cop it.
davSA
Guest
The Cricket SA board and in particular Mr Haroon Lorgat should hang their collective heads in shame . Throughout this whole saga they have attacked all due processes of the ICC in particular Dave Richardson for being amongst other things biased against SA cricket. They even publically attempted to bring into disrepute Richardsons integrity as a cricket player. They then targeted his apparent anti SA stance as CEO of the ICC giving no weight to the reality that he represents all member countries interests , not just South Africa's . To Faf du Plessis discredit he went along with it pleading innocence of the charges. Now that the appeal was heard by independent legal body with the exact same outcome and punishment as what the ICC recommended , do we hear any form of apology or contrition from Lorgat . ... Answer NO ! On the contrary and I'm having difficulty digesting this , Lorgat has suggested that Faf Du Plessis is now somewhat exonerated. The only possible logic that can explain Lorgat and Cricket SA's behaviour is that Lorgat may well be aiming for the prestigious job CEO of the ICC. He can pull off these cheap stunts in SA because he has political clout behind him , but I doubt very much that its going to work elsewhere.