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CENTURION, South Africa - Herschelle Gibbs, who has been banned for two test matches for verbally abusing Pakistani fans, has the support of the South African cricket team, captain Graeme Smith said today.
"There's a degree of not condoning what he's done, but there's also a lot of anger with what's going on," Smith said after his team won the match by seven wickets.
Smith spoke before Gibbs' hearing in front of International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad.
Gibbs made the comments, which were picked up on a stump microphone, during yestetrday's play at Centurion.
"Yesterday there was a quite a lot of racial abuse from Pakistan fans towards our players," Smith said.
"I think that provoked a lot of what happened yesterday. I don't think we condone what happened, but I can see why it happened.
"There was a particular incident where I went and got security to move guys away from Paul Harris," Smith said.
"Herschelle was down at third man just before the incident happened, and he was copping a lot of abuse, even racial abuse, at the time.
"The guys were provoked, and that's what's disappointing, and that's what angered them a bit. But we understand that what Herschelle did was wrong."
Smith also took a swipe at the television broadcasters.
"I think the stump mikes are only allowed to be on when the ball's about to be bowled," he said.
- REUTERS
