CSA confirmed that it will be seeking legal counsel on whether to appeal Kagiso Rabada’s two-match ban.
After Rabada spoke about his ban in the post-match press conference at St George’s Park, the ICC announced its decision.
CSA followed this up by confirming that it and Rabada have 48 hours to appeal the decision by the ICC. They are seeking legal counsel on what decision to make.
If Rabada appeals, he will still be suspended unless the judicial commissioner is appointed early and hears an argument to allow him to compete while the hearing is sorted out.
In a media release on Monday, the ICC confirmed Rabada will play no further part in South Africa’s Test series against Australia.
Rabada has been suspended for South Africa’s next two Test matches after being found guilty of a level-two ICC code of conduct offence of ‘inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player’. He has received a fine of 50% of his match fee and three demerit points after a disciplinary hearing following his denial of the charge.
This means Rabada has accumulated eight demerit points within a 24-month period, automatically leading to a two-match suspension.
The incident happened in the 52nd over of Australia’s first innings of the second Test. When moving towards the slips, Rabada made contact with Steve Smith with his shoulder.
Rabada has accepted a second charge under section 2.1.7 of the code: using language, actions or gestures which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his or her dismissal. He received a further 15% fine of his match fee and an additional demerit point, bringing his total to nine.
Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has also been fined 20% of his match fee and handed one demerit point for a level-one offence under section 2.1.4 of the code which pertains to ‘using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match.’ Marsh accepted the charge and no formal hearing was needed.
Jeff Crowe of the elite panel of ICC match referees said: ‘I found that there was contact between Rabada and Smith, and in my judgement, the contact by Rabada was inappropriate and deliberate. He had the opportunity to avoid the contact, and I could not see any evidence to support the argument that the contact was accidental.
‘It is also disappointing that this has happened the day after the pre-match meeting I had with both teams, where the importance of respect for opponents was highlighted.
‘I take no pleasure in seeing a player suspended, particularly a young player of Kagiso’s talent, but he has now breached the ICC code of conduct on a number of occasions.’
The charges against Rabada and Marsh were levelled by on-field umpires Chris Gaffaney and Kumar Dharmasena, third umpire Sundaram Ravi and fourth umpire Bongani Jele.
Rabada’s demerit point history:
February 2017: Three demerit points vs Sri Lanka for inappropriate and deliberate physical contact
July 2017: One demerit point vs England for a send-off offence (one-match suspension/four accumulated demerit points)
February 2018: One demerit point vs India for a send-off offence
March 2018: Three demerit points vs Australia for inappropriate and deliberate physical contact (Two match suspension/eight accumulated demerit points)
March 2018: One demerit point vs Australia for a send-off offence
