South Africa's Gibbs to appeal ban

The ICC has been notified that South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs will appeal the ban of two Test matches imposed upon him for breaching the ICC's Code of Conduct during his side's first Test against Pakistan at Centurion.

The process for the appeal is that the ICC will now appoint an Appeals Commissioner to hear the matter. The Appeals Commissioner will be drawn from the list of ICC Code of Conduct Commissioners but will not come from either South Africa or Pakistan.

That appointment should be made within 48 hours of the receipt of the appeal and, once appointed, the Appeals Commissioner has seven days to hear and determine the case.

The conduct of the hearing is at the discretion of the Appeals Commissioner and can involve written submissions, video tape where available or telephone conference.

The Appeals Commissioner has to determine the appeal within seven days of his appointment to the role and his decision is final and binding.

Pending resolution of the appeal, Gibbs is permitted to play in any match scheduled to commence prior to the announcement of the Appeals Commissioner's decision.

Gibbs was found guilty of a Level 3 offence, clause 3.3 of the Code which prohibits using "...any language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, colour, descent or national or ethic origin."

The charge, laid by ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, relates to an incident that took place shortly before the lunch interval on Sunday, the fourth day of the match, when Gibbs' comments were overheard through a stump microphone on the ground.

The hearing was conducted by ICC Match Referee Chris Broad of the Emirates Elite Panel after the Test concluded on Monday. Gibbs apologized for the remark but pleaded not guilty to the Level 3 charge.

The name of the Appeals Commissioner and the date set for the appeal will be announced in due course, although it is not anticipated it will take place before the second Test at Port Elizabeth, which is scheduled to start on Friday.

Full details of the appeal process can be found within the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials, which is located here:

The ICC Code of Conduct Commission, from which the Appeals Commissioner will be drawn, consists of one representative nominated by each of the 10 ICC Full Members and six leading Associates.