South Africa are pulling out all the stops to try and have Kagiso Rabada’s suspension overturned

SOUTH Africa will pull out all the stops in a desperate bid to try and allow Kagiso Rabada to play in the third Test. Will the plan work? BEN HORNE examines what the home side is trying to do.

Kagiso Rabadais is appealing his ban for bumping Steve Smith. Picture: Getty Images

THE wording used by Jeff Crowe in his report on Kagiso Rabada is set to be picked apart by South Africa’s legal team and holds the key to their desperate bid for the fast bowling star to play the third Test.

South Africa are expected to point to a perceived discrepancy between match referee Crowe’s initial report on the incident with Australian captain Steve Smith and the eventual charge laid out in the International Cricket Council’s official press release.

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The Proteas’ legal eagles will say at today’s hearing there’s a contradiction between Crowe’s description of the incident as being “avoidable and inappropriate contact” between “Rabada and Smith”, compared to the final charge which blamed the mid-pitch contact just on Rabada.

South Africa are pulling out all stops to try and prove that Smith was partially to blame for his own send-off getting physical.

It’s understood South Africa have sought input from body movement experts in a bid to try to present new footage that argues Rabada tries to pull away from the bump at the last moment.

Also at the heart of South Africa’s all-or-nothing challenge is their claim of inconsistency on the part of the ICC.

Kagiso Rabadais is appealing his ban for bumping Steve Smith. Picture: AAP Images

Rabada was charged with a grade-two contrary conduct which carried three demerit points and the Proteas are demanding to know how his send-off could be judged so significantly worse than David Warner’s fiery exchange with Aiden Markram in the first Test, which did not come under scrutiny.

Supporters of the world’s No. 1 fast bowler are also asking how an out-of-control finale to a spicy Twenty20 match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Colombo could finish with no players copping any worse than grade one charges.

In a farcical episode, the Bangladesh captain tried to drag his batsmen off the field in protest over a bad decision, only for the visitors to win the match with a six three balls later.

Replays showed players yelling in the face of umpires and players physically shoving each other as they left the field of play.

South Africa have regularly seized upon a victim’s mentality when charges have been laid against their players in recent years, and have claimed that the ICC’s charging system is inconsistent and unfair.

The Proteas will implore the ICC’s judicial commissioner, New Zealand QC Michael Heron, to explain how Rabada’s in-your-face send-off of Smith could be deemed worse than other recent incidents that were either graded less or excused.

Kagiso Rabada dominated the second Test. Picture: AP Photo

“Everyone asks for consistency,” South African captain Faf du Plessis said.

“One match referee or umpire interprets in another way.

“For me, if you make it so sensitive, guys will interpret it the wrong way.

“The charge against KG is a level two with three demerit points, and the charge against Davey (for his stairwell bust-up with Quinton de Kock) was a level two with three demerit points.

“For me, if you look at those incidents, one is a brushing of the shirt, the other is a lot more aggressive.

“My question was: why are both these incidents labelled the same? For me they are not.

“The contact was very minimal. It was a shirt flick between two players and you would get one or two demerit points as a slap on the wrist because it wasn’t full body contact. But that’s where I’m sitting as a player, not an official.”

South Africa’s problem is that cricket is not a contact sport, so therefore minimal contact between players is enough to prompt serious charges.

Faf du Plessis does not think Kagiso Rabadais should be suspended. Picture: Getty Images

Du Plessis disagrees.

“I don’t know enough on demerit systems enough to comment, but I think there needs to be different categories rather than just a law that says if there was body contact, that it is a level two offence,” he said.

“There should be different stages of body contact. You look at the situation in context and you make your decision on what you’ve seen, not on what the rule book says.”