South African cricketers have alleged that they spotted umpire Steve Davis drunk on the eve of India's series-levelling second Test in Durban and are now mulling lodging a complaint against the Australian who controversially ruled AB de Villiers out in the second innings.
The Proteas reportedly saw the 58-year-old umpire "in a drunken condition" at the Umhlanga hotel where both teams and match officials had stayed during the Durban Test.
Sources in the Proteas camp, on condition of anonymity, told the Afrikaans daily "Beeld" that Davis was regularly seen in a particular bar over the past week. They said he was also seen stumbling into the Sandton hotel in the early hours of the morning during the first Test in Centurion last week.
Proteas team manager, Mohammed Moosajee, referred the daily's query to Vincent van der Bijl, head of the ICC referees panel, who said he is aware of the "stunning" allegations but declined to comment on whether Davis would face any disciplinary action.
"There are established procedures to be followed and (any action) can only occur as soon as we receive an official complaint," Van der Bijl said.
Davis, along with his Pakistani colleague, Asad Rauf, committed quite a few umpiring blunders during the second Test, with leg before wicket decisions involving de Villiers and Mark Boucher being the most important ones.
Television replays showed that both decisions were wrong.
