New Zealand star batter reported for ball tampering in a domestic match

New Zealand’s international batter Henry Nicholls is currently under hot waters after being accused of a ball-tampering charge in a domestic Plunket Shield match in Auckland. Henry Nicholls was playing for Canterbury in a match against Auckland, where in a TV footage the Kiwi international was seen brushing the ball against a helmet during the change of ends.

It all unfolded during the Day 3 of the domestic match where the Kiwi batter was seen changing the condition of the match ball with an object. Nicholls has been reported by the officials for breaching Rule 3.1, article 1.15 of the Code.

Under Law 41.3 of the Laws of Cricket, changing the condition of the ball in play with any internal and external object or substance is prohibited and anyone found breaching it will be charged with ball tampering and will be penalized.

Henry Nicholls soon to get a date of hearing 

New Zealand Cricket has informed that the matter has been referred to the commissioner for First-Class Cricket and he will take the necessary steps further. However, no date of hearing has been finalized yet. It all panned out at the wrong time for Henry Nicholls as he is to travel to Bangladesh later this month to join the Test squad as some of the players are currently in India competing at the ODI World Cup 2023.

Canterbury won the Plunket Shield match against Aukland by eight wickets and Nicholls played an important role by hitting a match-winning century of 120 runs in the first innings. Canterbury declared their first inning on 413-9 in response to Auckland’s 217 runs. In the second innings, Canterbury had a meagre target of 61 to chase down which they did with the loss of 2 wickets, and Nicholls scored an unbeaten 30 runs in the second innings to take his team to an easy victory.