South Africa vs Australia | ICC overturn Kagiso Rabada ban; will play in Cape Town

03/20/2018

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Kagiso Rabada has seen his Level 2 charge reduced to Level 1 after his court hearing on Monday but he still have a 25% match fee fine and 1 demerit point. The 22-year-old played a crucial role in South Africa’s win in the third Test where he took 11 wickets and is now cleared to play in Cape Town.

The court hearing, via video conference on Monday, saw high profile South African legal advocate Dali Mpofu championing Rabada’s case with South African skipper Faf du Plessis and the team manager Mohammed Moosajee taking part in it as well. The hearing lasted for more than six hours at the end of which the pace bowler’s ban for having physical contact with Steven Smith was overturned.

"I think in any hearing you've got to be as happy as you can be. We've put our side of the story across and now it's up to the judicial commissioner to make a stand on what he thinks," said Moosajee after the hearing, reported Cricinfo.

"We've said it from the beginning...he needs to make sure he plans as if he's going to play," Moosajee said. "It would be fantastic. I think everyone wants to see him on the field," he further added.

What this means is that Rabada's demerit points have now dipped below the threshold of eight points which is needed to cancel out the automatic ban. Though the full judgement, which is to be made by ICC's code of conduct appeal commissioner Michael Heron, is yet to be released by ICC, Rabada will now be allowed to play at Newlands.

In the full judgement by ICC's code of conduct appeal commissioner Michael Heron, he stated that he wasn’t satisfied with Rabada’s action to be "inappropriate and deliberate", which is the definition in the ICC code of conduct. Hence, Rabada will now be allowed to play at Newlands.

"The key issue is whether Mr. Rabada made 'inappropriate and deliberate physical contact' with Mr Smith," Heron wrote. "I am not 'comfortably satisfied' that Mr. Rabada intended to make contact and I therefore find him not guilty of the charge under 2.2.7,” said Heron.

"I am entitled, however, to consider whether the conduct involved constitutes a lower level offence. I consider the conduct was inappropriate, lacked respect for his fellow player and involved non-deliberate and minor contact. The actions contravened the principle that a dismissed batsman should be left alone.

"I consider a penalty of the imposition of a fine of 25% of the applicable match fee to be the appropriate penalty for the breach of Article 2.1.1. As a consequence, 1 demerit point accrues. Mr. Rabada will be well aware of the consequences of any further breaches of the code."

ICC chief David Richardson later announced in a statement that the governing body has accepted to overturn the ban and would not be appealing.

"The ICC wholly accepts today's decision and I would like to thank Mr. Heron for overseeing the hearing in a short time frame before the next Test starts in South Africa," he said.

"This is perhaps an opportune moment to remind all players of their responsibilities to maintaining a standard of behavior which sets a good example to players at all levels of the game, especially the young players. We want to see the game played with skill, passion, and respect for the opposition, the match officials and the laws."

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