Australia captain Steve Smith has openly admitted that his team have been shining the ball in the same way as Faf du Plessis did. 

‘We, along with every other team around the world, shine the ball the same way,’ Smith said. ‘I think every team around the world shines the cricket ball.

‘I’ve seen Faf’s comments in his press conference and from my point of view … I’ll make it very clear we haven’t come out and said anything about Faf or about how he was shining the ball.’

Du Plessis was fined 100% of his match fee and given three demerit points for ball-tampering. He says he will appeal the ICC ruling and believes there was nothing illegal about his method of shining the ball.

‘I felt I did nothing wrong. I was shining the cricket ball,’ Du Plessis said.’I have been doing that for my whole career and every single team that I have played in does exactly the same thing.

‘It is not something that is frowned upon by anyone, not even the umpires; so to make such a big thing, it was a little bit blown out of proportion by everyone.

‘There are so many things out there. Some people use sunblock to shine the ball. I know of people who carry a lip ice in their pocket and shine the cricket ball. There’s just so many things, so I think it’s just so difficult to say what is right and what isn’t.’

Photo: Dave Hunt/Backpagepix