DUBAI: South Africa's Faf du Plessis escaped with only a fine of 50 percent of his match fee for ball tampering during the second Test against Pakistan.
Du Plessis was seen on television Friday evening rubbing the ball on the zipper of his trouser pocket. The onfield umpires called up South Africa captain Graeme Smith, changed the ball and, in an extremely rare punishment, awarded Pakistan 5 penalty runs.
Du Plessis was spotted by TV umpire Paul Reiffel from Australia.
The onfield umpires, Ian Gould and Rod Tucker, reported the incident to match referee David Boon soon after the third day's play and du Plessis was summoned for the hearing.
“After discussions with Mr du Plessis ... this was not part of a deliberate and/or prolonged attempt to unfairly manipulate the condition of the ball,” Boon said in a statement as he handed the fine to du Plessis before the start of day four on Saturday.
“The imposition of a fine of 50 percent of his match fee is appropriate considering the circumstances.”
But the ruling angered Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi, who said he will be contacting the International Cricket Council.
“PCB is writing a letter to the ICC, seeking explanation of inconsistency by match referee in application of ball tampering rule to Afridi vs. Faf,” Sethi tweeted.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was banned for two Twenty20 internationals for a ball tampering offence during a one-day international against Australia in 2010.
Du Plessis is the first South African to be charged for ball tampering, but former Pakistan players criticized the ICC for showing leniency to South Africa's 29-year-old batsman.
“ICC can't do justice on merit, it doesn't have any guts to do so,” former Test fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said.
In 2003, Akhtar was fined 75 percent of his match fee and was also banned for two one-day internationals for ball tampering during a series in Sri Lanka in 2003.
“It's fine if he (du Plessis) got away with such a punishment, but if in the future any player is involved in rubbing the ball over a zip ... please do hand him a similar punishment and not more than that.”
Former captain Rashid Latif said du Plessis should have been banned for a longer period and captain Smith should also have been punished.
“The punishment is very lenient. I think Faf should have been banned for six months ... plus the captain of the team should be held responsible and punished,” he said. “I am surprised. ... They ban a captain on a minor offense for slow over rate but for a crime shown on television in front of the whole world, you get a punishment of only 50 percent of the match fee.”
It's only the second time in the history of Test cricket that 5 penalty runs were awarded to any team for ball tampering.
Pakistan was at the receiving end during the Oval Test in 2006, the last and only time a team was penalized five runs for ball tampering in a Test match.
Then Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq reacted strongly and decided not to continue the Test in protest. Australia umpire Darrell Hair responded by awarding 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.
Vice-captain AB de Villiers defended his teammate on Saturday and said his team doesn't cheat.
“Honestly, we're not the team that scratches the ball,” de Villiers said.
“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.”
Pakistan's Waqar Younis was the first international player to receive a sanction for ball tampering when in 2000 he was fined 50 percent of his match fee and suspended from a one-day international. All-rounder Azhar Mahmmod is the other Pakistani who had been fined for ball tampering.
Other international players who have been handed fines, suspensions or both include India's Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and England's Michael Atherton.
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