South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs was arrested in the early hours of Friday morning for drink-driving in Cape Town.

A police spokesman said that a 34-year-old man had been arrested after failing a breathalyzer, adding

“we are not at liberty to implicate people by name until they have appeared in a court of law.”

However, Peter Whelan, Gibbs’ lawyer, admitted that his client was involved.

“He was pulled over and breathalysed, but the police have yet to tell me what charge he was arrested on,”

he said, adding that Gibbs was released on bail of R500 (US$63) on Friday morning. He is due to appear in court on June 27.

Several indiscretions over the years have sullied Gibbs’ precocious talent as one of the most attacking batsmen of his generation. He came close to being sent home from the South African Under-19 team’s tour to the West Indies in 1992 after staying out all night, and he was suspended and fined for agreeing - and then forgetting - to under-perform in a one-day international against India in Nagpur in 2000.

Gibbs, who was left out of the South Africa squad for the tour of India, recently signed up to play for Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in a deal worth US$575,000.