South Africa penalised for ball-tampering

of your page where you want the widget to show up. --> South Africa penalised for ball-tamperingSouth Africa were penalised five runs for ball-tampering on the third day of the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai. Faf du Plessis was the player in the centre of the controversy and the ICC said its ruling on the incident will be announced tomorrow.

The ICC confirmed that the five-run penalty and the change of ball after 30 overs was due to ball-tampering. "As per 42.1 of the ICC playing conditions, the umpires replaced the ball and fined South Africa team five penalty runs for ball-tampering," an ICC spokesperson said.

The incident took place at the start of the 31st over of Pakistan's innings, two overs after tea, when umpires Ian Gould and Rod Tucker called South African captain Graeme Smith for a chat. The fourth umpire, Shozab Raza, brought a box of balls onto the field and a new one was selected for use.

No individual player has been charged yet but television images showed du Plessis rubbing the ball allegedly on the zipper of his trouser pocket.

The playing conditions (see sidebar) dealing with ball-tampering were changed recently, coming into effect only from October 1. Any player found guilty of ball-tampering, which is a Level Two offence, will be fined 50 to 100% of his match fee and/or get a ban of one Test or two ODIs or two Twenty20s, whichever come first.

South Africa were well in control of the Test, having taken a commanding 418-run first-innings lead, when the incident occurred.

The only other time a team was handed a five-run penalty for ball-tampering was in the infamous Oval Test in 2006, in which Pakistan refused to take the field after the umpires deemed that the seam on the ball had been raised.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent

Feeds: Firdose Moonda © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Firdose Moonda 1st ODI: Pakistan v South Africa at Sharjah
Oct 30, 2013 (15:00 local | 11:00 GMT | 16:00 PKT) 2nd ODI: Pakistan v South Africa at Dubai (DSC)
Nov 1, 2013 (15:00 local | 11:00 GMT | 16:00 PKT) 3rd ODI: Pakistan v South Africa at Abu Dhabi
Nov 6, 2013 (15:00 local | 11:00 GMT | 16:00 PKT) 4th ODI: Pakistan v South Africa at Abu Dhabi
Nov 8, 2013 (15:00 local | 11:00 GMT | 16:00 PKT) 5th ODI: Pakistan v South Africa at Sharjah
Nov 11, 2013 (15:00 local | 11:00 GMT | 16:00 PKT) |     What Mitch does

Mitchell Johnson has picked up his pace, and his bounce and late movement have got batsmen wary too, says Aakash Chopra

    One of us against us

ESPNcricinfo XI: A selection of people who did well in international cricket against the country of their birth

    Plenty to ponder for New Zealand

Andrew Alderson: New Zealand's Test series against Bangladesh offered some positives but concerns remain, especially with the bowling unit and the openers

    'Never want to average 20 in a series again'

Matt Prior looks to return to form and gain the respect of Australia's fans during the Ashes summer. By Andrew McGlashan

What's the right age to start wearing helmets?

Michael Jeh: Do kids as young as eight need the protection, or do helmets just hamper their batting technique?

View the original article here