The Original Game » on of what he considered the difference betwee

Speaking for the first time since being found guilty of ball-tampering on Tuesday evening, South Africas stand-in captain Faf du Plessis used the first half of his pre-match press conference to continue to claim innocence. Cheap Air Jordan 1 For Sale . Du Plessis began with an explanation of what he considered the difference between altering the condition of the ball and merely looking after it, and that he firmly believed he was only doing the latter.Yesterday was the hearing and the verdict was that I was guilty. I completely disagree with that. I felt like I have done nothing wrong, du Plessis said. Theres two ways of looking at it, either ball-shining or ball-tampering. For me, if you talk about ball-tampering, that is something thats wrong. Its picking the ball, scratching the ball.Shining is something that all cricketers would say is not in that same space. It is something all cricketers do and I think there will be a lot of emphasis after this incident on where the game is going, what the ICC is going to do about it. I dont believe shining is wrong. Its not like I was trying to cheat or anything. I was shining a ball and I see no problem with that.Du Plessis admitted he had a massive mint in his mouth and was not trying to be insidious about what he was doing in using saliva that had mixed with the sweet to shine the ball, but he questioned why he would have escaped charge had his actions not been seen by television cameras. I wasnt trying to actually hide it, he said. I put a massive mint in my mouth and my mouth was that wide open. Whether you shine the ball with a sweet in your mouth or whether you dont see the sweet, and the sweet is still there, its exactly the same thing.And according to du Plessis, he has received enough support from both current and former players, including Australian captain Steven Smith, who in his own press conference said his team along with every other, shine the ball the same way, to know that it is commonplace in the game.The ex-players have spoken about it. Its part of our game. Its been an unwritten rule, du Plessis said. Some people use sunblock to shine the ball. I know of people who carry lip-ice in their pocket and shine the cricket ball or gum. So many things. Its just so difficult to say what is right and what is wrong. To say that when you have a sweet in your mouth, its wrong but when you have a sweet in your mouth and the camera doesnt pick up on it, its okay. Its just a really massive grey area.The everybody-does-it defense made headlines in the lead-up to du Plessis hearing, when footage emerged of Virat Kohli shining a ball when he appeared to have gum in his mouth, and David Warner shining a ball after applying lip-balm to his mouth. Neither Kohli nor Warner were charged - the visuals of their actions emerged after the ICCs five-day window for reporting incidents - and although du Plessis would not be drawn on whether they should have been, he asked for consistent application of the rules. I just ask that everyone gets treated the same way, he said. The ICC has taken a stance against me to use me as a scapegoat. All you can ask for is that everyone gets treated the same.He also, along with Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat, who was present at the press conference, hoped there would be clarity on what constitutes an artificial substance, and believes his case could lead to thorough research into whether sugar can make the ball swing.Ninety percent of the time, cricketers have got sugary saliva, du Plessis said. Whether we are drinking Powerade, Coke, Gatorade, eating sweets, sucking on jellies, our mouths are always full of sugar. Its such a grey area in the laws of cricket and its something that will be looked at. Us as cricketers, we think that it makes a difference but we are not scientists. We are not sure if it makes a difference. Its opened up a can of worms, whats going to happen now, going forward with the game. Something like this needed to happen to create a little bit more awareness on it.Lorgat confirmed that CSA will engage the ICC on the matter at the next cricket committee meeting but until then, du Plessis has asked not be branded underhanded and for the practice to be considered acceptable. Its never nice to be in a position like this because with ball tampering, its a really negative connotation that gets put to it and the term cheat has been thrown around and thats something I do not take lightly, he said.Its something I dont want to be associated with in any space and as I said, I felt I did nothing wrong. I was shining the cricket ball. Ive been doing that for my whole career and every single team I have played in does exactly the same thing and its not something thats frowned upon my anyone, not even the umpires. So to make such a big thing, I just think it was a little bit blown out of proportion by everyone.He has also thanked his team-mates for their united showing of support when Hashim Amla addressed the media at the MCG last Friday, with the entire squad alongside him. If you know the character of someone like Hashim Amla, you will understand that for him to go out and stand in front of the press and say the things that he said, he will feel very strongly about it. He is just the most honest guy on the planet so for him to say that means a lot, du Plessis said. Its speaks a lot about our culture and how we dont let any outside noise creep into our space.The noise may not have got in, but du Plessis has been warned to expect a hostile reception at the Adelaide Oval, perhaps from the opposition but definitely from the crowd. While he does not think Smith and co will have anything because he believes they do the same thing.I think the Aussies wont talk about it at all because they know thats part of their team as well. Its not been driven by the cricketers. You dont expect to go out there against Australia and walk out with a clap and welcome to the crease. Its part of playing against Australia, you expect that and thats something I have grown used to, he said, but challenged fans to understand his perspective. Im hoping that cricketing sense will be prevail. Its obviously something that if you are a cricketer and you understand cricket that this is not actually that big of a deal.With the ball in the spotlight, du Plessis tactics on shining the pink ball will come into focus but he has indicated it may not need as much work. The timing is perfect that its the pink ball. Apparently it swings more. It will be interesting to see how to shine the ball. I will probably just touch my finger like that and get a little bit of spit on it, he joked.And will he still use mints as the sugary substance of choice? Possibly just for bad breath now, not for shining the ball. I still the feel exactly the same way. Whether I was guilty or not, whether the sentence was different or not, I still feel exactly the same way. Maybe that needs to change now but possibly for this one game, I just maybe need to stay away from the mints. Buy Air Jordan 1 Canada . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Wholesale Jordan 1 Canada . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. http://www.wholesaleairjordan1canada.com/ . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. TORONTO -- The Kansas City Royals record on the road has been unbecoming of a reigning World Series champion.After losing 6-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, the Royals dropped to 16-28 on the road this season.Theyll try to begin reversing that trend in Tuesdays game against the Blue Jays, the second of a three-game series at the Rogers Centre.The difference in their home and away records is as glaring example as any of their inconsistency this season; at Kauffman Stadium, they are 27-11.Injuries have been part of the problem for the Royals. They entered their rematch of the 2015 American League Championship Series participants without such players as Lorenzo Cain (left hamstring strain) and Mike Moustakas (torn ACL).Of course, the Blue Jays have been without one of their key players in Jose Bautista (turf toe).Im not going to use injuries as an excuse, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Weve been inconsistent at times offensively. When we got our pitching and hitting together, thats when we have gone on runs. But then weve had inconsistency, too, with our starting pitching. Its a lot of things.The Royals will start right-hander Chris Young on Tuesday.Young has been consistent this season in that he has allowed at least one home run in each of his 12 starts, for a total of a major league leading 22. The club record is held by Runelvys Hernandez, who allowed homers in 13 straight starts Oct. 2, 2005-Aug. 10, 2006.The ball could be flying in Tuesdays contest.The Blue Jays will be starting knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who has allowed 19 homers this season. Cheap Jordan 1 Canada. t is a rematch of the Game 4 starters in the ALCS. That one did not go well for Dickey. He allowed four hits (including two home runs), two walks, and five runs (four earned) in 1 2/3 innings. The Royals won 14-2.Young did not pitch far enough into that game to get the win. He allowed three hits, two walks and two runs in 4 2/3 innings.Young is 2-1 with a 4.98 ERA in four regular-season starts against the Blue Jays.Dickey is 4-3 with a 4.20 ERA in 14 regular-season games against the Royals, including four starts.Dickey could have redemption in mind when he faces the Royals, but both teams have underachieved in the first half of the season, so they will take any wins they can get to stay in contention.There was some nastiness between the teams last year in a four game series in which the Blue Jays took three games at Rogers Centre.Both managers have played down suggestions that this fuels a rivalry.The Blue Jays, however, are quite aware that the Royals kept them from a chance at the World Series.More than anything this is the defending World Series champs, Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar said. Naturally you want to elevate your game for that.This is the team that knocked us out of the postseason, took everything that we worked extremely hard for away from us. We had some altercations with them, some incidents with them so, yeah, its formed a little bit of a rivalry. ' ' '