South African skipper Faf du Plessis is having a torrid time off the field as journalists continue to follow him after he was accused of ball tampering in the second Test at Hobart.

The issue escalated at the Adelaide airport when a member of the Proteas security team roughed up an Australian television journalist. After South Africa reached Adelaide ahead of Thursday’s third Test, Channel Nine reporter Will Crouch tried to talk to Du Plessis, reported cricket.com.au.

Security guard Zunaid Wadee intervened in an aggressive manner and pushed Crouch around until they exited the airport. Wadee pushed, shoulder charged and knocked a microphone from Crouch’s hands, reported The Guardian. He then forcibly shoved Crouch against a glass door as Du Plessis left the building giving a thumbs up. Crouch walked away unharmed, while Du Plessis refused to comment.

Later, Cricket South Africa released a statement where they referred to Crouch’s actions as “aggressively harassing our players with blatant disrespect of the media protocol”.

“The ‘reporter’ at the airport disrespected us and continued to harass Faf for comment. The ‘reporter’ was also in the unusual position of being in the middle of the players’ walkway to the bus. He was advised to move three times, and did not adhere to this request,” said Mohammed Moosajee, the South African team manager. “The ‘reporter’, who also had no official accreditation, then proceeded to lunge towards Faf with an unknown object causing a direct breach of security protocol. The reporter also shoved the team manager in the back.”

The statement also added that the Australian media and Channel 9, in particular, had been advised on numerous occasions that the South African captain could not make any comment on the ball-tampering controversy but the media protocol had been “blatantly ignored”.

The Proteas have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series but have been hit by the ball-tampering controversy.