Cape Town – Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will face a disciplinary hearing
on Saturday that could result in a ban from the third Test against
Australia.
LIVE: Proteas v Australia, Day 2
Cricket South Africa said Rabada, who devastated the Australian
batting order on the first day of the second Test on Friday, has been
charged with a level two offence following an incident with Australian
captain Steve Smith.
Level two offences are for conduct of a
serious nature. In Rabada’s case the alleged offence is that of making
inappropriate or deliberate contact with another player.
Rabada
shouted in celebration and approached Smith aggressively after winning a
leg before wicket decision against him and the shoulders of the players
made contact.
It is the second incident of a bad-tempered series
after Australia’s vice-captain David Warner was fined 75 percent of his
match fee for an altercation in a stairwell with the home side’s
wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.
The charge against Rabada was
brought by the on-field umpires, Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Gaffaney.
The hearing will be conducted by International Cricket Council match
referee Jeff Crowe.
A Cricket South Africa spokesperson said Rabada would defend the charge and argue that the contact with Smith was accidental.
If
found guilty Rabada could be fined between 50 and 100 percent of his
match fee and could be penalised three or four demerit points.
Because
he already has five demerit points, which led to him being suspended for
a Test match against England last year, Rabada could be liable to serve
another suspension, which could rule him out of the two remaining Tests
in the series.
See the incident below:
An aggressive send off to steven smith by kagiso rabada. #SAvAUS #SAvsAUS pic.twitter.com/F9gHKVGTOQ
— Alauddin Khilji (@AlauddinKhilj10) March 9, 2018
Will Proteas star Kagiso Rabada find himself in trouble for this incident on day one? #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/fqvFIx8ogZ
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) March 9, 2018