Nathan Lyon charged with Level 1 breach for AB de Villiers run-out incident

The first Test between Australia and South Africa was marred by controversies with David Warner confronting Quinton de Kock in the backroom which created a lot of stir in the Australian cricket. However, it was the on-field incident, which resulted in Lyon facing the wrath of the match referee.

Yesterday, Aiden Markram was playing a patient innings after the team was reduced to 39/2 and had seen off Nathan Lyon’s good length ball towards backward square leg at David Warner’s hands. There was little chance of a run and as de Villiers attempted, he was rightly sent back by Markram. But, de Villiers had been well ahead of his crease and eventually ended up being run-out with a tag-team effort by Warner and the offspinner. However, after dislodging the bails off the stumps, Lyon dropped the ball which fell on the chest of de Villiers who was down on the ground.

After assessing the incident, match referee Jeff Crowe has now decided to charge Lyon with a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which maintains that a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a player's match fee, and one or two demerit points.

However, a Cricket Australia spokesperson has stated that Lyon had already apologised to the South African on the same and told him that there was no sort of malice intended for the act. South African skipper Faf du Plessis has also downplayed the matter completely and stated that it was an ordinary incident for him.

"It's not anything out of the ordinary for me. We certainly don't complain about it. It's big men playing competitive sport. I didn't even see the footage of Lyon dropping the ball until this morning, so it's not like it was anything extra for us. We just play. Obviously Australia were on top for most of the game, and generally when you're on top that sort of stuff happens," du Plessis said, reported Cricbuzz.