Gibbs goes up in smoke

Herschelle Gibbs scored the match-winning century at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday.

Two days later, he along with five others were scoring cannabis in their hotel room.

The UCBSA said in a statement that all the players concerned -- who were supposedly celebrating having sealed the series win against the Windies -- have been fined $1250 apiece, and "severely reprimanded".

Along with Gibbs, the other cricketers were Paul Adams, Roger Telemachus, Andre Nel, Justin Kemp and physiotherapist Craig Smith.

"The accused all admitted their guilt and the Misconduct Committee (made up of the team management and senior players) accepted that this was a one-off incident," the UCB said. "The accused all expressed remorse, apologized and gave an assurance that this would not happen again."

Interestingly, though, Gibbs could be in line for further punishment. On April 14, 2000, he was disciplined for partying into the early morning of the day the team was scheduled to play a day-night game against Australia at Cape Town. The batsman was punished with a $1880 fine and banned for three matches -- part of the fine, and the ban, being suspended for a year pending good behaviour.

The dope party has happened within one year of the above incident, and hence could entail Gibbs facing the remainder of his sentence. UCB Director of Cricket Operations Brian Basson has been quoted by agencies as saying that "The suspended part of that sentence must now come into effect and he will be fined the additional R10,000 and face the three international match ban. The fine and ban, however, cannot be invoked by the team's on-tour misconduct committee, which means the opener will at least be able to play in Saturday's sixth one-dayer against the West Indies, the UCB said.