Cricket: Du Plessis fined half his match fee in ball tampering case

South Africa's Faf du Plessis was fined fifty per cent of his match fee. Photo / Getty Images

Faf du Plessis was fined 50 per cent of his match fee by the match referee after a hearing into alleged ball tampering after South Africa were penalised five runs for changing the condition of the ball against Pakistan in the second cricket test - bringing a denial from vice-captain AB de Villiers that the Proteas were cheating. South Africa media officer Lerato Malekutu said Du Plessis was called by Australian match referee David Boon with a ruling expected today.

Umpires Ian Gould and Rod Tucker punished the Proteas after tea on the third day when they found a change in the condition of the ball. Replays showed Du Plessis rubbing the ball over a zip on his thigh.

Du Plessis faces a range of penalties; a 50 to 100 per cent fine of his match fees, a suspension from one test and two one-day internationals or two Twenty20s, whichever is played first.

South Africa vice-captain De Villiers insisted the Proteas, ranked No1 in the world, were not cheats: "We don't cheat, it's as simple as that. I know Faffy very well, he's the last man to try anything like that."

De Villiers said Du Plessis, South Africa's Twenty20 captain, was responsible for looking after the condition of the ball. "It's not an easy job, I thought he did it very well," De Villiers said.

But the umpires summoned captain Graeme Smith after the 30th over, changed the ball, and Gould signalled five penalty runs added to Pakistan's total as extras.

De Villiers said he had no idea how the umpires discovered the ball's condition had changed: "There was no talk about it, no warnings and nothing, it was just out of nowhere."

Pakistan were 67 for three at the time in their second innings, trying to score 418 to avoid an innings defeat. Pakistan finished the day at 132 for four.

Pakistan were at the receiving end during the Oval test in 2006, the only other time a team was penalised five runs for ball tampering in a test match. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq then decided not to continue the test in protest. That led Australia umpire Darrell Hair to award the game to England, the only forfeit in the history of test cricket.

This month, the ICC amended its laws regarding the condition of balls, saying "if a player responsible can be identified", the ball will be changed, a five-run penalty will be awarded, and the player responsible will be reported. Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket authorities have banned five women cricketers after an investigation ruled they had falsely accused male officials of sexual harassment. In June, five women cricketers from the central Multan region accused their club chairman and a selector of demanding sexual favours in return for regional and national selection.

The charges were initially made in a television show but Sultan Alam, chairman of Multan Cricket Club, and his selector Mohammad Javed denied the allegations. Seema Javed, a prominent club cricketer, alleged that Alam, 70, once came to her and asked her to convince another girl to give him favours.

The Pakistan Cricket Board set up an inquiry which eventually ruled that the five players should be banned for six months.

Three of the five women, including Javed, "categorically denied having been sexually harassed or having seen such harassment", while the other two declined to present their case.

- AP/AFP