De Villiers suspended for two ODIs
South Africa captain AB de Villiers has been suspended for two ODIs while his players have been fined 100% of their match fees for maintaining a slow over-rate during their one-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the first ODI in Paarl on Saturday.
Cricket South Africa have named Sunfoil Dolphins batsman David Miller as the replacement for De Villiers, while Faf du Plessis will take over the captaincy.
Match referee David Boon imposed the suspension after the Proteas were ruled to be six overs short of their target at the end of the match, after time allowances had been taken into consideration.
De Villiers pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing.
In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct, the captain receives two suspension points while the players are fined 10% of their match fees for each of the first two overs short and 20% for every additional over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.
Two suspension points equates to a suspension from one test or two ODIs, to be applied to the subsequent International Matches in which the player sanctioned is most likely to participate in, which means that De Villiers has been suspended for the next two ODIs against New Zealand, to be played in Kimberley and Potchefstroom on Tuesday and Friday.
“Hashim Amla, who was next in line, asked not to be considered for the captaincy so that he can concentrate on his batting and we felt we should accede to his request,” commented CSA selection convener Andrew Hudson.
“That left Faf du Plessis as the logical choice after the good job he did with the Blue Label Telecoms squad in the KFC T20 International Series against New Zealand.
“Losing AB for the remainder of the series is obviously a big blow to us, particularly as he is still growing in the captaincy and needs every opportunity ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in the middle of the year.
“At the same time it is an opportunity for David Miller who has been on the fringes of our 50 overs thinking. He is a superb finisher who had a strike rate of 98 in the Momentum One-Day Cup domestic competition and also did very well for Yorkshire in last year’s England domestic T20 competition.”
