Lyon throws ball on AB de Villiers chest after his run out

A series involving Australia is rarely complete without some drama and controversy. In the ongoing series against South Africa, the drama has begun after Australian vice-captain David Warner and off-spinner Nathan Lyon attracted a fair share of controversy with chances of disciplinary actions for their behavior after running out AB de Villiers on Day 4 of the first Test match in Kingsmead Durban.

South Africa was already pushed to the backfoot as they had to chase a daunting target of 417. They had already lost two wickets for 39 when they were further pegged back by the untimely run out of their main batsman AB de Villiers for a duck.

After the big wicket, celebrations from the Aussies were expected but the magnitude of the celebrations was what went viral on social media, where Warner and Lyon are both receiving flak. During the twelfth over of the South African innings, Ab de Villiers, yet to get off the mark, set off for a quick single seeing striker Aiden Markram taking a few initial few steps.

However he misjudged it and Markram rightly pulled out mid-way, leaving AB very little chance of making it back to the crease. Standing at square leg, Warner released the ball quickly towards the bowling end; Lyon collected it and dislodged the bails to find de Villiers struggling to make it back into the crease.

Warner seemingly chared-up

There were already in-your-face-celebrations by Warner for Aiden Markram going viral on Twitter but Lyon too managed to contribute to doing something unsavory. He appeared to have dropped the bowl on de Villiers’ chest without any proper justification after he had successfully completed the runout. Lyon’s act did not go down well with experts including former South African skipper Graeme Smith. As a result, it sparked off social media debate on acceptable behavior on the cricket field.

Match referee Jeff Crowe is expected to investigate the incident, with ICC laws dictating that players must not use “language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal.” However, both Australia and South Africa did not fan the flames as Markram, who played a lone hand of 143 in an attempt to save the match, clarified that it wasn’t anything very offensive.

“It’s natural when you play against the Australians that there’s a lot of chatter on the field. I certainly don’t mind. It never really gets out of line either, not a lot of swearing or things like that happen,” said Markram.

You can watch the video here:

Pure cheek from Nathan Lyon ??? #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/vhuM4tgOHQ

— Josh Money (@JoshMoneyFOX) March 4, 2018