“The ICC has been alerted to the footage and is currently reviewing the incident”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

The International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced that they will be reviewing footage which allegedly shows South Africa stand-in captain Faf du Plessis tampering with the ball.

The footage is believed to show Du Plessis licking his fingers with a mint in his mouth before repeatedly shining and rubbing the ball in the 54th over of Australia’s second innings in the second Test in Hobart.

A similar tactic was used by England in the 2005 Ashes series, according to former England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick, but no action was taken against them. For Du Plessis, however, he could face repercussions should the ICC find him guilty of breaching law 42.3 of the MCC cricket laws, which states that a fielder can shine the ball “provided that no artificial substance is used”.

Neither the on-field umpires nor Cricket Australia have reported Du Plessis, but the ICC have confirmed that the incident is being investigated.

“The ICC has been alerted to the footage and is currently reviewing the incident from the perspective of it being a possible breach of the ICC Code of Conduct,” an ICC spokesperson told cricket.com.au.

This isn’t the first time that Du Plessis has found himself in hot water as he was warned in the first Test against Australia in Perth for deliberately bouncing the ball on the ground in order to roughen it up. Furthermore, in 2013, the 32-year-old was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for rubbing the ball near the zipper of his trouser pocket.