Kagiso Rabada of South Africa celebrate the wicket of Joe Root of England during day 1 of the 3rd Test match between South Africa and England at St Georges Park on January 16, 2020 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)
The Proteas’ quest to tame England in the current Test series became that much more challenging on Friday after the International Cricket Council (ICC) found Kagiso Rabada guilty of a first level breach of the governing body’s code of conduct for players.
While this entails a 15% fine of his match fee, the bigger consequence is that the strapping quick will now miss the final Test at the Wanderers starting next week.
Due to him “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his or her dismissal during an international match” when be castled English skipper Joe Root on the first day, Rabada was given his fourth demerit point in a two-year period.
That automatically means a one-game suspension.
And since Rabada and the Proteas aren’t, according to communication from the ICC, challenging the verdict, he won’t play on his home ground.
Not only will South Africa be missing the leader of their attack, there’s also major implications regarding the racial make-up of the team.
Coach Mark Boucher and co are already under pressure for dropping Temba Bavuma, which means the Proteas have only had Rabada as a black African player in its playing XI to date in the series.
While the team’s representation is calculated as a seasonal average, the general expectation is that two black Africans should be included most of the time.
Lungi Ngidi, another promiment black quick, is currently recovering from injury.
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