Keshav Maharaj has put himself forward as a wildcard candidate to take over as South Africa’s Test captain. The position remains unfilled following Faf du Plessis stepping down in February, even though South Africa have appointed Quinton de Kock as their white-ball captain.

Maharaj has not been among those named as likely future Test leaders – a status reserved for Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar – but he wants the captaincy, and not just in red-ball cricket.

“I really want to captain the Proteas. It’s been my dream. Not many people know that, but those close to me know that I do want to captain the South African team across all three formats,” Maharaj said. “And I want to raise the World Cup trophy in my hand as the leader of the side.

“Apart from wanting to play for the Proteas as a childhood dream, captaining the team to a World Cup-winning campaign would be everything I have ever dreamed of and my life would be fulfilled from a cricketing perspective.”

While Maharaj’s goals may seem ambitious to those who follow South African cricket, he has previous experience on which to make his case. Maharaj led his franchise, the Dolphins, in last season’s one-day cup, where they were declared winners after the competition was suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dolphins finished top of the points’ table with seven victories from 10 matches. Maharaj was their leading wicket-taker and fourth-highest overall, numbers that earned him an ODI recall against Australia after an absence from the team for 18 months.

Maharaj had only played four ODIs before that, two in England in 2017 and two against Sri Lanka in 2018, and was considered to be behind Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi in the national pecking order. But with Tahir’s ODI retirement after the 2019 World Cup and South Africa open to playing XIs with more than one spinner, Maharaj knew he could establish a regular place and the team management even gave him a blueprint for how to do it. “I got told that apart from bowling, you need to work on your batting.”

Though he only batted five times in the tournament, Maharaj finished with the Dolphins’ second-highest average, and scored his maiden List A half-century, which helped his team to a match-winning total in a low-scoring game against the Cobras.

That knock came after Maharaj scored two Test fifties, in Pune against India and in Port Elizabeth against England, innings that showed why he had initially been spoken about as someone with all-round potential. “I have a lot more ability than the numbers I have been showing,” he said.

Maharaj had two first-class hundreds and seven fifties to his name when he made his Test debut in 2016, but his early international displays, which often involved wild swings, did not indicate he could be considered an allrounder. However, he showed a more measured approach last summer, and now wants to work his way up the Test line-up. “In India, I got a taste of what it’s like to score an international fifty. I wanted to really kick on but it was a bit unfortunate to get out,” he said. “I really want to take my batting seriously and move to a bowling allrounder or a fully-fledged allrounder so I can contribute evenly. I know I am capable of scoring bigger runs. My biggest problem was getting the first fifty so I now I want to try and kick o from that and get big hundreds and match-winning hundreds.”

Maharaj hopes that if he scores runs in the longest format, it may also help him get into the international scene in the shortest one; he has not yet been capped in T20Is. “I do want to break into the T20 format but I know I have to bide my time in ODI cricket and score some big runs in Test cricket to improve my chances of selection,” he said.

Until then, he is happy to put in the hard work, under de Kock, who has changed the way South Africa approach their limited-overs cricket. “It’s a different dynamic to when I first debuted in terms of the aggression. It’s exciting,” Maharaj said. “You’ve got a younger leader and with youth comes a lot of flair.”

Maharaj has spent the lockdown working on developing flair of his own, as he looks to become a multi-format international regular. He will have more time to do that over the next few months after his overseas deal with Yorkshire was canceled as the counties look for ways to cut costs in the face of Covid-19. That means the earliest Maharaj will play is if South Africa’s July-August tour to West Indies goes ahead, a tour they will undertake with a new Test captain. Whether that is Maharaj remains to be seen.

In the meanwhile, he also has a wedding to reschedule. Maharaj and his fiancee Lerisha were due to tie the knot last Saturday but had to postpone their big day with the ban on social gatherings still in place. Even though he is disappointed not to have been able to say his “I dos”, Maharaj can see the silver lining. “It was tough accepting [the postponement] but it gives us some extra time to make the wedding even more perfect than what it was going to be.”

Australia captain Steve Smith has been handed a one-match suspension and fined 100 per cent of his match fee following his admission yesterday that he was party to a decision to attempt to change the condition of the ball in order to gain an unfair advantage during the third day’s play in the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson laid the charge against Smith under to Article 2.2.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel which prohibits to ‘all types of conduct of a serious nature that is contrary to the spirit of the game’.

Smith accepted the charge and the proposed sanction of two suspension points which equates to a ban for the next Test match and which will see four demerit points added to his record.

“The decision made by the leadership group of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is therefore ‘serious’ in nature. As captain, Steve Smith must take full responsibility for the actions of his players and it is appropriate that he be suspended,” Richardson said.

“The game needs to have a hard look at itself. In recent weeks we have seen incidents of ugly sledging, send-offs, dissent against umpires’ decisions, a walk-off, ball tampering and some ordinary off-field behaviour.

“The ICC needs to do more to prevent poor behavior and better police the spirit of the game, defining more clearly what is expected of players and enforcing the regulations in a consistent fashion. In addition and most importantly Member countries need to show more accountability for their teams’ conduct. Winning is important but not at the expense of the spirit of the game which is intrinsic and precious to the sport of cricket. We have to raise the bar across all areas.”

Cameron Bancroft has been fined 75 per cent of his match fee and handed three demerit points for breaching Level 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the third day’s play on Saturday.

Bancroft admitted that he breached Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of clause 41.3.” and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, and as such there was no need for a formal hearing.

The incident that led to the charges being laid took place during South Africa’s innings on Saturday afternoon when Bancroft was seen on television holding a foreign object while rubbing the ball, before hiding the object in his pocket, then inside his trousers.

As soon as the incident was shown on the giant screen, the player was questioned in the presence of his captain Steve Smith by the two on-field umpires, Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong, who, along with third umpire Ian Gould and fourth umpire Allahudien Palekar, later charged Bancroft.

The umpires inspected the ball at that time and elected not to replace the ball and award a 5-run penalty as they could not see any marks on the ball that suggested that its condition had been changed as a direct result of Bancroft’s actions. The umpires though agreed that Bancroft’s actions were likely to alter the condition of the ball and he was therefore charged under Article 2.2.9.

Pycroft said: “To carry a foreign object on to the field of play with the intention of changing the condition of the ball to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent is against not only the Laws, but the Spirit of the game as well.

“That said, I acknowledge that Cameron has accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty to the charge and apologising publicly. As a young player starting out in international cricket, I hope the lessons learned from this episode will strongly influence the way he plays the game during the rest of his career.”

MORE TO COME

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage

PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa): South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will face a disciplinary hearing on Saturday that could result in a ban from the third Test against Australia.

Cricket South Africa said Rabada, who devastated the Australian batting order on the first day of the second Test on Friday, has been charged with a level two offence following an incident with Australian captain Steve Smith.

Level two offences are for conduct of a serious nature. In Rabada’s case the alleged offence is that of making inappropriate or deliberate contact with another player.

Rabada shouted in celebration and approached Smith aggressively after winning a leg before wicket decision against him and the shoulders of the players made contact.

It is the second incident of a bad-tempered series after Australia’s vice-captain David Warner was fined 75 percent of his match fee for an altercation in a stairwell with the home side’s wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

The charge against Rabada was brought by the on-field umpires, Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Gaffaney. The hearing will be conducted by International Cricket Council match referee Jeff Crowe.

A Cricket South Africa spokesperson said Rabada would defend the charge and argue that the contact with Smith was accidental.

If found guilty Rabada could be fined between 50 and 100 percent of his match fee and could be penalised three or four demerit points. Because he already has five demerit points, which led to him being suspended for a Test match against England last year, Rabada could be liable to serve another suspension, which could rule him out of the two remaining Tests in the series.

• Alexander Krushelnitsky tests positive for meldonium
• Set to be stripped of mixed curling bronze, won with wife

The Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been formally charged with a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. He is now likely to be stripped of his mixed curling bronze medal, won with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova last week, and there are also growing questions about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow 168 Russians to compete here under a neutral flag despite the country’s massive state-sponsored doping programme in Sochi.

But as Krushelnitsky was leaving the Winter Olympics on Monday morning his Olympic Athletes of Russia team-mates were insisting that he was innocent. “We were all shocked when we found out,” said Viktoria Moiseeva. “Of course we very much hope it was some kind of mistake. With us it’s not faster, higher, stronger; it’s about being more accurate. I can’t imagine what kind of drugs you could use in curling … so it’s very hard to believe.”

Krushelnitsky has told Russian officials he fears a team-mate who was not selected for the Winter Olympics spiked his drink with meldonium at a training camp before he travelled to South Korea. The drug, which was banned in 2016, led to Russian tennis player and former world No 1 Maria Sharapova being barred from competition for 15 months.

Russian curling federation president Dmitry Svishchev said Russian curlers had been tested on 22 January before flying out to South Korea and the tests were negative. “I have known these guys for many years,” he said. “Only a crazy person takes banned substances before a competition, before the Olympics. It’s a strange story. It raises a lot of questions.”

Russian Olympic delegation spokesman Konstantin Vybornov added that he would not comment on the charge until the results of Krushelnitsky’s “B” sample were announced. He also accused foreign media outlets of running “misleading” reports, but did not give further details. “I spoke to a person who previously headed the anti-doping laboratory, and he said that curlers don’t need meldonium. In his opinion, this is some kind of political act. ‘You are victims of conspiracy,’” he said. “Do I believe that? I don’t know,” Andrei Sozin, the Russian curling federation vice-president, told Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-Kremlin newspaper. “The federation gives its word: we don’t know how this scandal has arisen. [Doping] contradicts the federation’s principles.”

In December the Russian Olympic Committee was banned from the Winter Olympics and ordered to pay $15m in costs in after making what the IOC called an “unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport” following a massive state-sponsored doping programme that corrupted the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

Russian athletes were only allowed to compete in Pyeongchang under a neutral flag providing they were cleared by an anti-doping panel. However the IOC had left open the possibility that they would be able to march under their own flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony. That now looks an increasingly slim prospect. The IOC said it would make its decision at an executive board meeting on Saturday.

“I hope it’s not true … for the sport of curling,” said Norwegian team skipper Thomas Ulsrud. “If it’s true I feel really sad for the Norwegian team who worked really hard and ended up in fourth place and just left for Norway and they aren’t even here.”

However the Danish skip Madeleine Dupont appeared unconvinced that performance enhancing drugs would help in a sport such as curling. “I think most people will laugh,” she said. “And say ‘what do you possibly need doping for?’”

The Court of Arbitration Anti-Doping Division confirmed Krushelnitsky’s case had been passed to them in a statement. “Further to a request from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Cas ADD has initiated a procedure involving the athlete Aleksandr Krushelnitckii (mixed curling; OAR),” it said. “No hearing date has been fixed yet and no further information will be provided at this point.”