Cricket: Proteas Hit Back In Ball-tampering Row

HOBART, Australia, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Nov, 2016 ) - South Africa insisted a ball-tampering controversy had been "blown out of proportion" on Friday as they kept their focus on a third straight series win in Australia.

Skipper Faf du Plessis was unmoved by accusations of tampering in South Africa's thumping 177-run first Test win, saying Australia also got the ball to reverse-swing. Du Plessis was warned by the umpires for deliberately bouncing the ball along the ground, to rough it up, but he said there was no unfair advantage.

"I think it's been blown out of proportion. We were watching the first innings in Perth and they (Australia) got the ball to reverse in the 25th over," he said in Hobart, where the second Test starts on Saturday.

"I was quite impressed. I was trying to see how they were doing it because that meant they were doing something right. Twenty-five overs is very early for ball to reverse. "We are a bowling attack and we enjoy bowling with a swinging ball.

To say it was only for us is not true. "It was 50-50 the amount of reverse swing throughout that Test. The Aussies did it really well." Reverse swing -- when the ball moves away from its usual trajectory, usually when it is older and rougher -- is unlikely in lush, damp Hobart.

"Perth was really dry and extremely hard. It will be different here," du Plessis said. "It is lush, it's green, it's soft, it's wet. It will seam and swing, but won't reverse that much."