Proteas captain Faf du Plessis will face an ICC inquiry today into allegations of ball-tampering.

Du Plessis landed in trouble after television footage appeared to show him shining the ball with a mint in his mouth during the fourth day’s play in the second Commonwealth Bank Test against Australia last week.

ICC rules forbid the use of ‘artificial substances’ to alter the condition of the ball. The ICC will have to examine the question of whether saliva flavoured with mint becomes an ‘artificial substance’.

The row over the incident has escalated recently when a reporter attempted to question Du Plessis as he walked through the airport at Adelaide and was manhandled out of the way by the Proteas team security.

Proteas management condemned the reporter’s behaviour, saying:

‘The Australian media and Channel 9 News in particular have been advised on numerous occasions over the past few days that Cricket South Africa and captain, Faf du Plessis, are not in a position to comment on the alleged ball tampering issue

‘The reporter at the airport disrespected us and continued to harass Faf for comment.

‘Throughout the tour we have respected all our media obligations and treated media with utmost respect. At the same time, we would like to see this respect reciprocated and will not accept such behaviour as displayed by the Channel 9 News reporter.’

Australian senior batsman David Warner weighed in on the incident, saying he would be ‘disappointed’ if members of his team were involved in that sort of airport confrontation.

‘I won’t comment on the way they’ve been behaving,” Warner said ahead of Australia’s training session at Adelaide Oval .

‘I just know from an Australian cricket perspective we hold our heads high and I’d be very disappointed if one of our team members did that, and how they’re reacting.’