Captain Faf du Plessis says the Proteas will refrain from using the ball-tampering incident as a sledging mechanism. 

The Proteas tour Australia for a limited-overs series in November. This is the first series between the sides after the ball-tampering debacle, which could have provided ammunition to the sledgers in the South African side.

It was an incident that shamed the nation and Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland expressed the seriousness of the event by handing out one-year bans to Australia captain Steve Smith and opening batsman David Warner, while young batsman Cameron Bancroft received a nine-month ban for his use of sandpaper with intent to alter the shape of the ball.

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The entire Test series in South Africa proved that sledging can get heated between the two nations, with friction between Quinton de Kock and Warner moving off the field where CCTV footage captured a tunnel row between the teams.

Du Plessis admitted that he enjoys the heated battles with Australia in his pre-series press conference and predicted the battle to be ‘nice and hostile’.

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Despite this, Du Plessis said that the side will refrain from using the incident as a way to rile up the opposition.

‘I don’t think us, as a team, would go there,’ said Du Plessis.

‘It’s got nothing to do with the cricket – it’s in the past. In terms of what happened in Newlands, that’s in the past for us. For us, it’s business as usual.’

The first ODI is on 4 November in Perth, followed by matches on 9 November in Adelaide and on 11 November in Hobart.

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