Rabada ban will present more complications

South Africa could well go into the fourth and decisive Test against England at the Wanderers next week without a single black African in their team following the International Cricket Council’s decision to ban Kagiso Rabada following his in-your-face celebration of Joe Root’s wicket on the first day of the third Test in Port Elizabeth.

There are many who are going to blame the ICC for seriously detracting from the finale of what has been a gripping series between two well-matched, if fairly average, sides.

Their decision certainly devalues their own product, the purest version of the game that is considered endangered by many, and already there have been people on social media saying they are no longer going to the Wanderers because Rabada won’t be there.

Such is the pull of the great fast bowlers and there are few finer sights in cricket than a genuine quick roaring in and trying to blast out batsmen.

Through the years that has also involved, on occasion, some verbal bombardments.

But it is hard to feel too much sympathy for Rabada because we have been down this road before.

Getting in the face of batsmen while celebrating enthusiastically, or over-exuberantly depending on your viewpoint, is something the 24-year-old has been repeatedly warned about.

His run-ins with Ben Stokes, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Steve Smith have all resulted in demerit points.

The incidents with both Warner and Smith were also at St George’s Park during the fractious series against Australia in 2018 that culminated in the tourists, feeling hard done by, sandpapering the ball.

Rabada screamed in Warner’s face after a magnificent passage of play ended with him comprehensively bowling the left-hander, having brushed shoulders – or shirts – with Smith in the first innings after trapping him LBW.

Rabada was initially charged with making physical contact with Smith and given three demerit points, which took him to a total of eight demerit points in the previous two years, leading to a two-match ban.

But Cricket South Africa appealed the decision and Rabada escaped with a lesser charge of conduct contrary to the spirit of the game, again for shouting in the batsman’s face, for which he received one demerit point.

He also received a point for the Warner incident, taking him to seven demerit points.

That became eight – the bench-mark for a ban – yesterday.

I have sympathy for both points of view.

Viewed in isolation, what Rabada did to Root hardly seems deserving of a ban, robbing a showpiece Test of one of it’s biggest attractions.

But the ICC also can’t just keep warning Rabada over and over about the same offence and he is quite welcome to celebrate, shout and scream away from the batsman.

Rabada’s absence will not only rob the Proteas of their spearhead – he is the leading wicket-taker in the series – but also worsen the side’s already questionable transformation balance.

With Temba Bavuma dropped, Rabada has been the sole black African in an XI that has included only three or four (in Port Elizabeth) other players of colour.

Bringing Bavuma back for Rabada will help the transformation optics, but with the Proteas surely needing to win at the Wanderers in order to get something out of the series, they will presumably want to replace the fiery pace-man with another fast bowler.

One gets the feeling Proteas coach Mark Boucher and acting director of cricket Graeme Smith feel a bit like a head chef who is expected to cook up a gourmet meal without all of the ingredients.

In terms of the black African target, it is very difficult to see who else can be chosen.

Bavuma, of course, is regaining his best form after an epic 180 in the fourth innings of the match between the Imperial Lions and the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg, but should that mean he is rushed straight back into the Test team?

It would either weaken the attack considerably or be at the expense of some other batsman, but who?

It is a grave concern that there really are no other black African batsmen currently in the mix for national selection.

This is something that needs to be addressed by those who are designing the new domestic structure for SA cricket.

Because quality black African batsmen are few and far between, there is greater pressure to get them into the franchise teams.

Ken Borland is The Citizen’s chief cricket writer.

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