‘Application of substances to ball happens often’ – Domingo

Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, is hopeful administrators will either give players a wide berth or crack down completely when applying Law 42 – fair and unfair play – because he believes the application of artificial substances to the ball, especially in the form of edibles, occurs often.

Domingo spoke to reporters about an hour before his captain Faf du Plessis’ hearing to face ball-tampering charges took place at the Adelaide Oval and could not comment on the specifics of the case but hinted that one of South Africa’s defenses could be that everybody else does it too.

“You see it daily with those types of instances taking place on the field. I don’t want to talk about the [Faf] incident too much but it seems to be a daily occurrence on the field of play so they [the administrators] might need to re-look at that should they feel its not within the spirit of the game,” Domingo said.

Du Plessis was only charged when television footage of him shining the ball with saliva – while also having a sweet or mint in his mouth – was circulated the day after the Hobart Test. By then, the time for the match officials to report an alleged offence had lapsed and the ICC investigated the visuals of their own volition, after being alerted by widespread media reports. After two similar incidents in the last three years (Dubai in 2013 and Galle in 2014), in which broadcasters were also involved in bringing to light South African offences, Domingo said they feel singled out.

“There are other teams that have maybe done similar things and we’ve maybe …

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