Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rababa has been banned for the next Test against England following his overzealous celebration of Joe Root’s wicket at St George’s Park on Thursday.
Rababa picked up the wicket of Root in the evening session on the opening day of third Test and then launched into a boisterous celebration right alongside the England captain.
Match referee Andy Pycroft deemed his act of celebration as excessive and slapped him with a Level 1 offence and one demerit point and also a fine of 15 percent of his match fee.
The ICC does not allow for Level 1 offences to be appealed but that mattered little as Radaba admitted guilt.
That took his accumulation of points over 24 months from an existing three points to four‚ which automatically bans him from playing in the final Test of the series against England at the Wanderers in Johannesburg next week.
The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Rod Tucker and Bruce Oxenford and third umpire Joel Wilson as well as fourth umpire Allahudien Paleker and was dealt with by match referee Pycroft‚ of Zimbabwe.
The ICC confirmed the sanction in a statement on Friday.
Rabada was found to have violated Article 2.5 of the code‚ which relates to “using language‚ actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his or her dismissal during an international match”.
Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand‚ a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a player’s match fee‚ and one or two demerit points.
This is not the first time Rabada has run foul of the ICC in Port Elizabeth.
In fact‚ all three of his active points were accumulated in the “Friendly City”.
The first came when he swore at Shikhar Dhawan in an ODI in February 2018.
The others came when the SA quick brushed shoulders with Australian captain Steve Smith and then when he celebrated excessively at getting David Warner’s wicket in the same match in March 2018.
