The incident took place at the Hagley Oval, when Canterbury were hosting Auckland for a Plunket Shield clash. Nicholls played a key role in Canterbury’s eight-wicket win, top-scoring in each innings with 120 and 30 not out.

Despite George Worker’s 60, Auckland were bowled out for 217 as Michael Rae claimed 3-27. Canterbury piled 413-9 in response: apart from Nicholls’s hundred, there were key contributions from Michael Rippon (69) and Zakary Foulkes (61).

Sean Solia’s 67 at the top then helped Auckland reach 127-1 before they collapsed to 256 against Rippon (4-85). It could have been worse, had Adithya Ashok not made 54 not out from No.9. Canterbury then chased down 61 without breaking a sweat.

However, none of that gained as much attention as what Nicholls’s activities at the start of the 32nd, 33rd, and 35th overs of the Auckland second innings did. Video footage allegedly revealed Nicholls scraping the ball against the rim of the helmet before these overs. The alleged breach pertains to Rule 3.1, Article 1.15 of the code as well as Law 41.3 of cricket.

Derek Walker and Kim Cotton, the umpires, later reported Nicholls for allegedly breaching NZC’s code of conduct, who have raised this with a first-class commissioner. No detail of Nicholls’s hearing, however, is yet to be known.

If accused of committing a Level 2 offence, Nicholls may, according to a stuff.co.nz report, risks fine amounting to his entire match fee as well as $500 along with match suspension.

Nicholls was named the Player of the Series when New Zealand won an ODI series in Bangladesh ahead in September, but did not make it to the World Cup squad. He is also part of the squad for the Test series in Bangladesh, to begin on November 28.

The Cricket Players Association are supporting Nicholls, as they do with every cricketer, said chief executive Heath Mills, without elaborating further.

Here is the Henry Nicholls rubbing the ball on the helmet incident. pic.twitter.com/jwaliBIFYA

— Vincent Jones (@JonesVincentt) November 10, 2023