Adelaide — South African coach Russell Domingo has admitted that the furore over the ball-tampering charges faced by captain Faf du Plessis have affected the team’s preparations for the third Test in Adelaide on Thursday.

Du Plessis has been hauled onto the carpet after television footage taken during the second Test in Hobart showed him applying saliva to the ball using fingers taken from his mouth‚ in which can be seen what appears to be a sweet or mint.

Players are allowed to polish the ball using natural substances‚ but artificial aids — like sugar — are banned.

Du Plessis pled not guilty and attended a hearing on Tuesday. If he is found guilty he could be banned from playing in the third Test of a series South Africa have already won 2-0.

“It’s been an interesting few days‚” Domingo said on Tuesday before Du Plessis’ hearing.

“We’ve had a wonderful tour here. It’s been great. We’ve played great cricket and had long discussions‚ and our focus now is purely on cricket.

“It hasn’t been ideal preparation. There’s no doubt about it. I’d be lying if I said it’s been spectacular preparation. But our focus as from now is totally on the cricket.”

Domingo said Du Plessis was holding up under intense media scrutiny.

“He’s a tough man‚ Faf‚” Domingo said. “It’s never pleasant when everybody’s got an opinion on you and people have judged you before rulings have been made or decisions have been made.

“I suppose that’s the nature of the world at the moment — everybody’s got an opinion and can air their opinion.

“And when you’re constantly seeing yourself in newspapers and things (are) written about you I suppose it does weigh you down at times.

“But he’s a tough man‚ a resilient man‚ and the team’s really supported him and surrounded him and tried to lessen the load on him personally.

“Should he be playing this Test match I’m pretty confident he’ll be in a good frame of mind.”

Led by the squad’s senior player‚ Hashim Amla‚ the South Africans have been passionate and outspoken in their defence of Du Plessis.

Tensions boiled over when the squad arrived in Adelaide on Monday‚ when the squad’s security guard‚ Zunaid Wadee‚ shoved a reporter into a window at the airport.

Domingo didn’t agree that the South Africans’ reaction to the affair had been questionable‚ although he left room for debate that they could have handled the controversy better.

“I know that with the incident that happened (on Monday) there were constant requests by our team to the particular media people to refrain from questioning our captain‚” Domingo said.

“Those protocols weren’t adhered to and I respect the decisions that get made and the actions that get taken by my management staff.

“They’ve been doing it for a long period of time; they know what’s best for the team.

“Like the media guy will say he’s doing his job the management team will say they’re doing their job. So there’s no right‚ there’s no wrong.

“But I’m pretty comfortable with what’s happened thus far in terms of the way we’ve gone about it.

“We’re a unified team. We stand by our captain. We stand by the decisions we’ve made.

“They might not have always come across as the ideal way to do it‚ but at that particular time and space we thought those were the right things to do.”

– TMG Digital