Ottis draws a line under sledging
PORT ELIZABETH: David Warner has narrowly escaped being suspended for the second Test against South Africa, while Quinton de Kock was also censured yesterday by the ICC for their involvement in the stairwell fracas that engulfed the first Test in Durban.
De Kock was found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC’s code of conduct in relation to bringing the game into disrepute. The South African wicket-keeper did not contest the charge, although the Proteas team management unsuccessfully tried to reduce the punishment against him.
ICC match referee Jeff Crowe ruled that De Kock be fined 25% of his match fee and have one demerit point against his name at a meeting held at the team’s hotel last night.
Australia meanwhile accepted Warner’s Level 2 charge, which equated to three demerit points and 75% of his match fee. Four demerit points would have led to an automatic suspension of one Test or two ODIs/T20I’s, whichever came first.
South Africa, though, steadfastly believe De Kock was provoked by Warner.
“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 1, that didn’t seem fair,” Proteas coach Ottis Gibson told the media before the hearing.
He continued: “Quinny wouldn’t have said anything if something wasn’t said to him first in the first place. I wasn’t out there, Faf 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?”
Gibson would not comment on whether De Kock was entirely silent, or indeed said anything about Warner’s wife as the Australians are suggesting, but instead chose to challenge his counterpart Darren Lehmann’s comments about the mythical moral line that exists on the field.
“I can’t categorically speak for another person, so I don’t know what was said,” Gibson added. “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? We don’t have a line, we’re just trying to play cricket.
“The match officials and the ICC they govern the game, and the umpires on the field must take charge of the game. If things are being said and it’s within earshot of the player who is standing at point or wherever he is fielding, surely the umpires can hear. So maybe umpires must stand up and take control of the game.”
Although Lehmann’s proposed captains and coaches meeting to discuss the way forward for both teams has yet to take place, Gibson also wanted to move on from the Durban drama and for his team to focus on the challenge ahead, especially as they look to level the series at the country’s oldest stadium.
“I think everyone needs to focus on the cricket. Calm down and get back to cricket. I am telling them (my team) to play cricket,” he said.
“I am happy with aggression when it is fast bowlers bowling bouncers.
“That to me is aggression. But when it’s sledging, chirping ... I don’t think that’s aggression. If a fast bowler is trying to intimidate a batsman through bouncers, that’s aggression.
“That’s how I learnt the game of cricket growing up in the Caribbean.”