Footage has emerged of Proteas captain Faf du Plessis, shining the ball during the second Test flogging of Australia in Hobart with a sweet in his mouth. 

An incident like this previously occurred during the 2005 Ashes series where, in his book Coming Back To Me, Marcus Trescothick revealed that to enhance the swing of the ball he would use saliva after sucking mints to shine the ball. No action was taken against England in this incident.

Law 42.3 of the MCC cricket laws state that a fielder may polish a ball, ‘provided that no artificial substance is used’.

Du Plessis was warned in the first Test for deliberately bouncing the ball along the ground to roughen it up, but he waved accusations away saying that the incident was ‘blown out of proportion’ as the Australia bowling attack would also benefit from a roughened-up ball.

The 32-year-old has previously been accused of ball tampering when he was fined by the ICC for rubbing the ball on a trouser zip during a 2013 Test against Pakistan.

In 2014, Australian opener David Warner was fined 15 per cent of his match fee after he accused AB de Villiers of ball tampering during the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

Warner was fined for his comments about De Villiers using his gloves to roughen up the ball.

‘We were actually questioning whether or not AB de Villiers would get the ball in his hand and with his glove wipe the rough side every ball. That’s another thing we have to try and bring up with the umpires.’