Cricket faces lose, lose tangle if South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada is banned from Cape Town Test
THE ICC demerit points time bomb and explosive passion conspiring against South African superstar Kagiso Rabada.
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CRICKET faces a lose/ lose predicament if South African renegade Kagiso Rabada is rubbed out of a Cape Town grudge match with rare box office appeal.
The third Test of a series locked 1-1 has all the trappings; villains, storylines and bitterness that broadcasters love and struggle to script.
Kagiso is a Botswana name for peace but it has been war against Australia in Durban and Port Elizabeth, earning Rabada a two-match code of conduct ban which the Proteas are appealing.
Rabada, 22, has a hyper passionate persona to blame for his situation. However, the ICC’s unwieldy demerit point system, introduced to enforce its disciplinary code, threatens to wipe out rock star talent that an ailing Test format craves.
Rabada is the privileged black African son of a neurosurgeon who doubles as cricket’s fastest and furious speedster. Watching Rabada lock horns with David Warner – the battler from a western Sydney housing commission flat- and Australian skipper Steve Smith in a crunch third Test would be riveting.
Rabada’s match-winning 11-wicket haul against Australia in Port Elizabeth underscored why the prodigy is the No.1 ranked bowler in Test cricket.
Rabada has 135 wickets in 28 Tests at a strike rate unrivalled by current peers.
He will only play in Cape Town on Thursday if distinguished defence counsel Dali Mpofu can argue for a ban suspension during an appeal process that starts with a hearing on Monday.
Cricket South Africa is bankrolling Rabada’s appeal despite publicly posturing it has “zero” chance of winning.
Rabada has incurred eight demerit points for five on-field behavioural transgressions inside 24 months which triggers a two match ban.
Rabada – already on report for a shoulder brush and verbal barrage on Smith - lost the plot in an ensuring send off to mark Warner’s second innings dismissal at Port Elizabeth
His individual breaches - while immature and incendiary - have not in isolation been so damaging as to warrant expulsion from the game. Rabada’s demerit points send offs to England’s Ben Stokes in July and India’s Shikhar Dhawan last month contributed to his Cape Town ban. These transgressions sported more showmanship than malice against two hardened rivals.
A two-year period where demerit points pile up amounts to a ticking time bomb for elite players.
Warner is a demerit point away from a ban after defending the honour of his wife in a spat with Proteas keeper Quentin de Kock at Port Elizabeth.
The game occupies an invidious position ahead of what should have been a Test for the ages.
If Rabada wins his appeal and fronts at Newlands it would make a mockery of scrupulous match referee Jeff Crowe upholding ICC rules. Crowe slapped Rabada with level two and level one offences for making contact with Smith and shouting in Warner’s face. An unsuccessful Rabada appeal will rob Test cricket of a blue chip selling point in a nation finally unearthing black superstar cricketers including Lungi Ngidi that could render South Africa’s controversial quota system superfluous.
Rabada accepts West Indian legend and mentor Michael Holding’s advice to pull his head in.
A Cape Town Test without Rabada will be as unpalatable as Warner crossing paths with Sonny Bill Williams at the hotel shared by the Australian cricket and Auckland Blues Rugby teams.
South African cricket’s fight for post-Apartheid hearts and minds - including its best shot at a first home series victory against Australia since readmission - could be undermined by Rabada’s absence.
Originally published as Cricket faces lose, lose tangle if South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada is banned from Cape Town Test