29 May, 2017
When asked if he felt that the umpires implied that the visitors were had been engaging in ball-tampering, de Villiers replied: "Yes".
"But England put you under a lot of pressure, and you have got to make sure you are on top of your game and transfer the pressure back on to them". No further steps were taken and we move on.
"I honestly think it was just a bad ball today. which happens sometimes, the leather comes off sometimes".
"In a way, making me feel that we are responsible".
The vexed issue of ball-tampering is particularly emotive for South Africa given that Test skipper Faf du Plessis was fined his match fee by the International Cricket Council in November for shining the ball using saliva generated by sucking on a mint during the Proteas's second Test win over Australia in Hobart. "[But] nothing happened, generally there's a warning or a fine, none of that happened, which tells me they realised we were innocent in this case", he added. Unfortunately the umpires didn't agree. In 2013, during a series against Pakistan, du Plessis also pleaded guilty to a charge of ball-tampering after rubbing the ball near the zipper on his pants. Chris Woakes and England captain Eoin Morgan were the architects of the victory. "The game was still played in great spirit after that; credit to both the umpires and us as a team".
England all-rounder Ben Stokes was passed fit to play despite suffering a recurrence of knee trouble during the hosts' 72-run win over the Proteas in the series opener at Headingley on Wednesday - a concerning sign just a week away from the start of the Champions Trophy ODI tournament on home soil. A thrilling climax ensued, with Mark Wood defending seven runs in the last over‚ but SA were in the running only because of an unbroken stand between David Miller and Chris Morris, which yielded 62 runs off 41 balls. "I got a bit excited, thought we had it in the bag". "They showed some great skill and good plans".
