South Africa stars' clash on-field in domestic match prompted T20I captain’s complaint.
South Africa’s rising sensation Lhuan-dre Pretorius and uncapped batter Josh Richards were involved in a heated on-field exchange during the CSA 4-Division Series clash between the Titans and the Lions at Centurion.
The incident occurred at the end of the 12th over of the Lions’ innings when Richards took a single off the last ball. After completing the run, the batter turned toward stumper Pretorius, gesturing animatedly, apparently unhappy with the latter’s gestures. The tension escalated as both players got in each other’s faces, with Richards pointing a finger at Pretorius before teammates and umpires around their player to diffuse the situation.
Play was temporarily halted as both on-field umpires intervened, while Richards was pulled away by the captain and the non-striker Dominic Hendricks.
The commentators on air described the confrontation as one for the match referee, saying, “Something for the match referee to look at. We don’t mind hard cricket, but this was a little bit more, players getting into each other’s spaces, pushing each other around.”
Interestingly, the commentator confirmed that the two players have been teammates in club cricket.
However, the verbal battle didn’t end there. In the next over, Donovan Ferreira had to wait for a brief period before his delivery as the duo exchanged words again. They eventually complained to the umpire about the delay before play resumed.
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Richards later scored a run-a-ball 54 on Day 3 of the match. Earlier, the Titans had posted 368 on the board, with Pretorius contributing just 21 runs. The Lions responded with 386, taking a narrow first-innings lead of 18 runs.
The 26-year-old Richards has amassed 3532 runs in 54 First Class matches at 42.55, while Pretorius, on the other hand, has already represented South Africa across T20I and Test formats, boasting a Test match hundred against Zimbabwe earlier this year. The 20-year-old has been named in South Africa’s T20I and ODI teams for the upcoming series against Pakistan later this month.
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