Kagiso Rabada ban gets mixed reaction from cricket greats

There was mixed reaction to the banning today of Proteas’ fast bowler Kagiso “KG” Rabada from the decisive Wanderers Test against England next week.

Former fast bowlers Shaun Pollock and Michael Holding criticised Rabada for a failure to learn from his mistakes after the 24-year-old was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to an accumulation of demerit points for code of conduct breaches.

But former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan bemoaned the absence of a star player from the series finale.

Rabada was given one demerit point for his in-the-face celebration after dismissing England captain Joe Root on the first day, the fast bowler making a beeline for the batsman’s crease and then screaming, which constituted an action which could provoke a reaction from the batsman.

It is the fourth time Rabada has been disciplined for over-the-top celebrations that were too close to the batsman, including the much-publicised incidents with Australians Steve Smith and David Warner at the same venue in 2018, and he has now reached the threshold of eight demerit points which brings with it an automatic one-match ban.

“The ban is for an accumulation of demerit points and he didn’t get a point for doing it to Zak Crawley in the first Test. Was he spoken to after that by team management or the match referee, we don’t know. The problem is the points KG has gathered along the way and now he’s over the line for a ban.

“I know it was something Ottis Gibson was trying to stamp out and the team can’t afford to have KG behave this way.

“They might lose the series because of the way he’s behaved,” Pollock said on SuperSport.

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“He is obviously a slow learner but he has to learn. You can’t keep making the same mistakes. South Africa without Rabada at the Wanderers – that’s a big blow,” West Indian great Holding said.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen said Rabada had no right to invade the batsman’s space the way he did.

“Aggression is part of the game but it’s unnecessary for him to come in on the private space of the batsman. He shouldn’t be celebrating that way space. I feel sorry for Faf du Plessis and Mark Boucher because South Africa are going to miss him at the Wanderers,” Pietersen said.

Hussein disagreed.

“Cricket has shot itself in the foot. I don’t agree with the decision. I want Kagiso Rabada playing at the Wanderers. From what I saw yesterday I don’t think that is a demerit point. Was there any physical contact, was there any sledging? A bowler showed some emotion. We sit in air-conditioned rooms and have this righteous, holier-than-thou attitude,” said Hussein.

“Let’s have 11 robots out there, let’s take emotion out of the game. When you saw it yesterday did you think he must be fined and banned? The ICC should be in charge of how players carry on … there are kids watching, we can’t have swearing.

“But the ICC are also in charge of a game, Test cricket, that might be dying. If I’ve got tickets for the Wanderers and I’ve spent my hard-earned cash. People wanted to watch Kagiso Rabada bowl, I’d feel short-changed that he is not there,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.

“Rabada getting a one-game ban for celebrating taking the wicket of the opponent’s best player is absolutely bonkers. Over-rates and slow play nothing gets done. Celebrate a wicket and you are banned. The world is bloody nuts …,” Vaughan tweeted.

– news@citizen.co.za

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