David Warner, De Kock in ugly off-field confrontation

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Durban, March 5: The CCTV footage from the players area at Kingsmead, Durban, has shown Australian vice-captain David Warner and South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock involved in a heated exchange during the tea break on day four of the first Test on Sunday (March 4).

Warner was at the centre of an exuberant Australian celebration following the run-out of AB de Villiers emotions appeared to boil over as the players made their way to their respective dressing rooms for tea break, reports cricket.com.au.

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Warner looked to be aggressively directing his words to de Kock, who had left the field of play at the same time as the Australians as one of the two not out batsmen.

The Australian was held back from moving towards the De Kock by Usman Khawaja and later by Tim Paine before he was ushered away from the scene by captain Steve Smith.

It is unknown what has prompted the exchange, nor how the vision was surfaced publicly.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said: "CA is aware of reports of an incident between players in Durban. CA is working to establish the facts of what has occurred and will not be commenting further until that has been done."

In his post-stumps press conference, SA opener Aiden Markram, who had been partly responsible for the de Villiers run-out, defended the on-field aggression of the Australians.

"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," he said.

Meanwhile, South African manager Mohamamd Moosajee said: "It's rather unfortunate that the incident took place and certainly not in the spirit of the game. The match referee had spoken to us after the day's play. We will await any further communication from the ICC around this incident."