Cape Town,
The third Test of the thrilling series between South Africa and Australia begins tomorrow on an unfriendly note: Australia captain Steve Smith has criticised the decision to overturn the ban on home fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.

Rabada was initially given three demerit points for brushing past Smith after dismissing him in the second Test at Port Elizabeth, triggering an automatic two-Test ban. But on appeal, the penalty on Rabada was reduced as judicial commissioner Michael Heron was not completely satisfied that Rabada’s bump into Smith was deliberate. Heron imposed a one-point penalty on Rabada.

Smith has criticised the decision, saying that Rabada had bumped into him. “I certainly think he (Rabada) bumped me a little bit harder than it actually looked on the footage,” Smith said. Smith is also upset that he was not called to give his version of the event in the hearing before Heron. “The other person involved (Smith) not getting asked about it is pretty interesting, I thought,” said the Australian skipper.

Although Smith claimed “it didn’t bother me too much,” he went on to say: “They’ve obviously decided what’s deliberate contact and what’s not and apparently it wasn’t. The ICC have set the standard, haven’t they? There was clearly contact out in the middle. I certainly won’t be telling my bowlers to go out there and after you take a wicket go and get in their space. I don’t think that is on and part of the game. But the standard has been set.”
He added, however, that his team would not bait Rabada in the rest of the series. “If he wants to carry on making mistakes, then so be it. He is a world-class bowler, for us it is about negating the impact he has had in the first two games,” Smith said. “We will play the game as we have always played it and just try go 2-1 up in the series.”

With no Australian having scored a century in the four-match series that stands level at 1-1, Smith urged his top-order batsmen to raise their performances.
South Africa have welcomed the lowering of penalty on Rabada, with bowling coach Ottis Gibson saying: “He is not a badly behaved kid, he’s just very excited and exuberant sometimes… But we’ve made him aware of the batsman’s space and where his space needs to be. He must get away from the batsman and continue to celebrate.”

South Africa are not just about Rabada, though: They also have Vernon Philander, who has picked up 47 Test wickets in Cape Town at an average of 16.34. Then there’s AB de Villiers, who made a brilliant century in the second Test.