Kagiso Rabada dealing with the ‘Village People’

South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has had to endure Australians wondering about what village he has come from and now his own compatriots are fussing over his physical well-being and bombarding him with questions about when he will rest.

Which is ironic considering that Rabada looked in tiptop shape on Wednesday as he produced a ferocious display of fast bowling that netted him two for 22 in 10 overs on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Newlands in Cape Town, leaving him with match figures of six for 59 in 22 overs and the promise of more to come.

Also read: Irrepressible Philander and Rabada torment Lankans

Rabada spent the post-match press conference trying to soothe the more neurotic members of the press corps, fending off their concerns with more success than some of the Sri Lankan batsmen had dealt with his short-pitched thunderbolts.

“I didn’t feel like I had good rhythm in Port Elizabeth, but now I’ve just bowled more and it’s a nice pitch with a bit of pace and bounce.

“I’ll rest when I have time off, but there are times when you just have to bowl to get to that higher level. There’s no room for rest if you’re not bowling well, but if you’re feeling good then you don’t need to bowl as much. It comes with experience and the more you play, the more you know how to control your body. So it will get better and for me it’s just about how I feel and trying to work my way back,” the 21-year-old said.

Rabada bounced out opener Kaushal Silva for 29, ending a defiant innings of 111 minutes, and then trapped Dhananjaya de Silva lbw for 22 in his next over with a surprise full ball.

It was yet more evidence of Rabada’s cerebral powers that dovetail so beautifully with his immense physical attributes.

Sri Lanka ended the third day on 130 for four in their second innings, captain Angelo Mathews and senior batsman Dinesh Chandimal having added an unbeaten 61 for the fifth wicket, and if the tourists are to bat through the fourth day, then they are going to have to reproduce that sort of doggedness and show much better shot-selection than they have previously in this series.

“We have a lot of natural strokeplayers, but application is very important in these conditions. We have to be very patient and select the correct balls to score off. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes,” Silva said.

The most glaring mistakes came in the first hour of the innings as Dimuth Karunaratne (6) tried to drive an inswinger from Vernon Philander through midwicket and inside-edged the ball into his own stumps, and Kusal Mendis (4) drove hard at a delivery from the same bowler that was nowhere near full enough for the ill-judged shot, edging a catch into the slips.

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