South Africa's cricket captain Faf du Plessis gestures as he speaks a press conference ahead of the third Test cricket match between Australia and South Africa in Adelaide on November 23, 2016. / PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Just as you thought the ball-tampering scandal was put in the rear-view mirror, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis brought it up again as he wasn't satisfied with the punishment.

Du Plessis has once again gone on the front foot and called for harsher penalties for ball-tampering.

Although he's been convicted for ball tampering twice in his career (2013 and 2016), Du Plessis spoke on the issue before his squad departed for the tour of Sri Lanka.

Du Plessis was asked if the International Cricket Council should make punishments harsher for ball tampering, his answered "They have to. It's happening too often. They definitely need to do that as quickly as possible."

"I know they met a while ago but it doesn't look like anything has changed. It's still the same rules and stuff, so they need to change that.

"The penalties needs to be harsher for ball tampering."

Luckily for Du Plessis, he may have already got what he's asked for.

The ICC Cricket Committee, headed by former India captain Anil Kumble, met in May and recommended to the ICC Board that penalties for anything involved with ball-tampering be made harsher.

Currently, the ICC's code of conduct states that the maximum punishment for ball-tampering is a one Test or two limited-overs match suspension. The proposed recommendation would see ball-tampering elevated from a Level 2 offence to a Level 3, which brings with it a maximum suspension of four Tests and eight limited-overs matches.

While the harsher punishment would make Du Plessis happy, he wants the board to clarify what ball-tampering really is.

"I have probably said it too much but there are too many grey areas when it comes to the ICC and the rules," he said.

"One, you want clarity and, two, you want consistency and that's definitely something that's not been part of that body of laws for a while now.

"There's a lot of captains that have been speaking about it for a lot of years so, hopefully, when they do bring in all these new things there will be a lot of clarity and, most importantly, consistency for all teams."

Ball-tampering became a hot-topic again this year after the incident in Cape Town saw the three experienced Australians, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft altering the condition of the ball using sandpaper. They all received small suspensions from the ICC then were handed down much harsher penalties by Cricket Australian.