Du Plessis, Smith spoken to but chatter unlikely to subside

The controversy may have died down but the chatter won't. © Getty

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis does not expect Australia to change their stripes when it comes to sledging, even as the two teams made a commitment to return the focus onto cricket during a meeting with match referee Jeff Crowe.

Attention this week has centred on the ugly spat between David Warner and Quinton de Kock in a stairwell at Kingsmead that was captured on CCTV and leaked to the media. Both players have subsequently been fined, with Warner incurring three demerit points and de Kock earning one, but Crowe still deemed it necessary to call the two captains and team managers in for a meeting on Thursday (March 8) ahead of the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

"It was nice to just have a chat and ensure that we're playing within the spirit of the game and that cricket is what is written about and talked about after this game," Australia captain Steve Smith said after the meeting. "It's all been about the indiscretions of the last fixture and that's not what we want for the game. Cricket has got to be the winner, so it's just about staying in line, continuing to play good, hard cricket. There's nothing wrong with a bit of banter out in the field. It's just making sure we're not getting personal or crossing any lines."

The concept of 'the line' has been a subject of some debate over the course of the week, with South Africa coach Ottis Gibson moved to ask, "Whose line is it?" More often than not the line has appeared to be demarcated by Australia, who say that they need to use aggressive language in order to play their best cricket, but equally insist that the approach is fine so long as they do not comment on peoples' personal lives.

Smith was unable to explain where exactly the line is, and denied that different teams may have different ideas of what language is in the spirit of the game. "I think you know when you say or do something wrong," he said. Smith gave no guarantees that there would not be any transgressions in future, but promised that Australia would be "doing our best to make sure that our behaviour is in a good place."

Furthermore, Smith confirmed that a more proactive stance by the umpires had been discussed in the meeting with Crowe. "More with the fact that if they hear something going on, it's about going to either myself or Faf to ensure that we have our troops in line and playing within the guidelines. That was the conversation."

While the whole matter has undoubtedly been a public relations disaster for Australia, with the video exposing the hypocrisy of their sledging philosophy, du Plessis does not expect the atmosphere to be any quieter when South Africa's batsmen are in the middle.

"I'm not expecting Australia to change their style of play. They are a team that have always done it and they will always do it. They are not going to change overnight. They've always had characters in their team. It's not even the whole team. There are just two or three guys that you can see it's almost their job in the team, to go that route," said du Plessis.

"For me it will just be a case where if you have guys in your team who are pushing that line, as a captain, you make sure you keep them calm, and that things don't get to a stage where it did in the previous game. If the captain is not close by, that role will fall to the umpires, if they there is someone continuously trying to get a reaction out of a player. I don't have a problem with chirping, I think chirping is good for the game. It's just what you say is where we talk about that line."

Du Plessis insisted that South Africa have no interest in "flirting with the line" or "finding the grey area", saying they preferred to focus on producing good body language. But he admitted that there will be a little extra motivation when the teams step out for a crucial Test on Friday.

"It makes the blood pump a little bit because it makes you want to get back on the field and perform against a quality Australian team," he said. "But for me it's about what makes you perform best as a team, and every guy has something different that makes him tick. The guys are ready to go for this Test."