“I was shining a ball and I see no problem with that”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
South Africa stand-in captain Faf du Plessis continued to insist that he was innocent after speaking about the ball-tampering incident that has become known as Mintgate or Lollygate for the first time.
Du Plessis was fined 100 per cent of his match fee from the second Test against Australia in Hobart after the International Cricket Council (ICC) were alerted to footage that showed him licking his fingers with a mint in his mouth and then proceeding to shine and rub and ball.
The ICC found the 32-year-old guilty of breaching clause 2.2.9 of their Code of Conduct, which relates to “changing the condition of the ball”.
Du Plessis, though, remains adamant that he was looking after the ball rather than trying to alter the condition of it in order to give the Proteas an unfair advantage.
“Yesterday was the hearing and the verdict was that I was guilty. I completely disagree with that. I felt like I have done nothing wrong,” he said. “There’s two ways of looking at it, either ball-shining or ball-tampering. For me, if you talk about ball-tampering, that is something that’s wrong. It’s picking the ball, scratching the ball.
“Shining is something that all cricketers would say is not in that same space. It is something all cricketers do and I think there will be a lot of emphasis after this incident on where the game is going, what the ICC is going to do about it. I don’t believe shining is wrong. It’s not like I was trying to cheat or anything. I was shining a ball and I see no problem with that.”
Du Plessis also feels as if he would have escaped being punished had his actions not been caught by the television cameras.
“I wasn’t trying to actually hide it,” he said. “I put a massive mint in my mouth and my mouth was that wide open. Whether you shine the ball with a sweet in your mouth or whether you don’t see the sweet, and the sweet is still there, it’s exactly the same thing.”
The interim South African skipper added that he has received support from a number of current and former players, including Australia captain Steven Smith, to know that this kind of incident is a common occurrence in the sport. In fact, in his own press conference, Smith had admitted that his side “along with every other, shine the ball the same way”.
“The ex-players have spoken about it. It’s part of our game. It’s been an unwritten rule,” Du Plessis said. “Some people use sunblock to shine the ball. I know of people who carry lip-ice in their pocket and shine the cricket ball or gum. So many things. It’s just so difficult to say what is right and what is wrong. To say that when you have a sweet in your mouth, it’s wrong but when you have a sweet in your mouth and the camera doesn’t pick up on it, it’s okay. It’s just a really massive grey area.”
“The ICC has taken a stance against me to use me as a scapegoat”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Du Plessis added that he felt as if he had been made a “scapegoat” by the ICC as there has been footage of India captain Virat Kohli shining the ball while appearing to have gum in his mouth, while Australia opening batsman David Warner was seen rubbing and shining the ball after applying lip-balm on his mouth. However, despite the footage, neither Kohli nor Warner were charged for their actions.
“I just ask that everyone gets treated the same way,” the Pretoria native said. “The ICC has taken a stance against me to use me as a scapegoat. All you can ask for is that everyone gets treated the same.”
Du Plessis also called on the ICC to look into the laws about ball-tampering and changing the condition of the ball as he feels it should be made more clear what counts as an artificial substance.
“Ninety percent of the time, cricketers have got sugary saliva,” he added. “Whether we are drinking Powerade, Coke, Gatorade, eating sweets, sucking on jellies, our mouths are always full of sugar. It’s such a grey area in the laws of cricket and its something that will be looked at. Us as cricketers, we think that it makes a difference but we are not scientists. We are not sure if it makes a difference. It’s opened up a can of worms, what’s going to happen now, going forward with the game. Something like this needed to happen to create a little bit more awareness on it.
“It’s never nice to be in a position like this because with ball tampering, it’s a really negative connotation that gets put to it and the term cheat has been thrown around and that’s something I do not take lightly.
“It’s something I don’t want to be associated with in any space and as I said, I felt I did nothing wrong. I was shining the cricket ball. I’ve been doing that for my whole career and every single team I have played in does exactly the same thing and it’s not something that’s frowned upon my anyone, not even the umpires. So to make such a big thing, I just think it was a little bit blown out of proportion by everyone.”
Du Plessis also took the opportunity to thank his team-mates, in particular batsman Hashim Amla, for supporting him throughout the ordeal. Last Friday, Amla told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that the ICC’s decision to charge Du Plessis was a “joke”.
“If you know the character of someone like Hashim Amla, you will understand that for him to go out and stand in front of the press and say the things that he said, he will feel very strongly about it. He is just the most honest guy on the planet so for him to say that means a lot,” Du Plessis said. “It’s speaks a lot about our culture and how we don’t let any outside noise creep into our space.”
Du Plessis also acknowledged that he is likely to receive a hostile reception in the third and final Test in Adelaide, but made it clear that he is prepared for it.
“I think the Aussies won’t talk about it at all because they know that’s part of their team as well,” he said. “It’s not been driven by the cricketers. You don’t expect to go out there against Australia and walk out with a clap and welcome to the crease. It’s part of playing against Australia, you expect that and that’s something I have grown used to.
“I’m hoping that cricketing sense will be prevail. It’s obviously something that if you are a cricketer and you understand cricket that this is not actually that big of a deal.”
When asked if he plans to have any mints in his mouth during the day-night affair in Adelaide, Du Plessis responded by saying: “Possibly just for bad breath now, not for shining the ball. I still the feel exactly the same way. Whether I was guilty or not, whether the sentence was different or not, I still feel exactly the same way. Maybe that needs to change now but possibly for this one game, I just maybe need to stay away from the mints.”
As for shining the pink ball, Du Plessis pointed out: “The timing is perfect that it’s the pink ball. Apparently it swings more. It will be interesting to see how to shine the ball. I will probably just touch my finger like that and get a little bit of spit on it.”