Quinton de Kock was fined 25 percent of his match fee and given a demerit point
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has been fined 25 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for breaching the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct.
De Kock was found guilty of breaching Article 2.1.2 of the Code of Conduct, which relates to “conduct that brings the game into disrepute”.
The fine and demerit point stems from De Kock’s altercation with Australia vice-captain David Warner, who was fined 75 percent of his match fee and given three demerit points.
De Kock had accepted the charge, but did not agree with the sanctions and therefore lodged an appeal.
However, the sanctions were upheld after match referee Jeff Crowe held a disciplinary hearing with De Kock.
De Kock and Warner got into an altercation, which was captured on CCTV, while the players were coming up the steps for the tea interval on the fourth day of the first Test in Durban.
According to reports, De Kock made derogatory comments about Warner’s wife Candice, while Warner made some disparaging remarks about De Kock’s family and even called the 25-year-old a “bush pig”.
De Kock’s sister, Dalean, also got involved and took aim at Warner on Twitter, where she said: “Wtf (what the f**k) ! I’ll hurt you @davidwarner31.”
Explaining why De Kock had appealed, South Africa head coach Ottis Gibson was quoted by sacricketmag.com as saying: “We’re appealing the level one because we believe Quinny didn’t do anything.
“Quinny wasn’t aggressive. You saw some footage and the footage showed Quinny walking up the stairs and somebody else [David Warner] being restrained, and then Quinny gets a level one, that didn’t seem fair.
“Quinny wouldn’t have said anything if something wasn’t said to him first in the first place. I wasn’t out there, Faf [du Plessis] was there, he would probably know what was said.
“You have all seen the footage. If I’m walking up the stairs and someone else is being restrained, how can you fine me for something?”
When asked what De Kock and Warner had said, Gibson replied: “I can’t categorically speak for another person, so I don’t know what was said. There’s this thing I have seen recently about ‘the line’.
“They say they never crossed the line, but where is the line? Who sets the line? Where does it come from? But when you say ‘we haven’t crossed the line’, you said stuff but you never crossed the line. You went very close but you never crossed it. Whose line is it? Our line? We don’t have a line. We’re just trying to play cricket.”
Australia claimed a 118-run win in the first Test and will be looking to extend their lead in the second Test, which begins in Port Elizabeth on Friday.