England vs South Africa, 3rd Test: I Don’t Have Any Bad Intentions – Kagiso Rabada After Serving Ban
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:21 PM
South Africa was once in the driver’s seat on the opening day of the third Test against England at The Oval on Thursday (July 27), when they had the hosts reeling at 120 for four before an unbeaten 51-run stand between Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes helped the Joe Root-led side finish the day on a good note.
The highlight of the day was definitely Kagiso Rabada’s vicious inswinging yorker that debutant Dawid Malan had no answer to, as the Middlesex knelt down in an unsuccessful attempt to play the ball which went on to shatter his stumps.
With that wicket, Rabada made a good return to the field after serving the one-match suspension he was handed by the ICC for his foul-mouthed send-off to England’s Ben Stokes in the series-opener at Lord’s. Many felt that the suspension was a tough one since the fast-bowlers’ ‘f*ck off’ comment was not aimed at Stokes and the young Proteas pacer once again reiterated it.
“I don’t have any bad intentions,” he said of his on-field approach. “We talk off the field, myself and Stokes and the other players. We go and have a beer together after the game. It’s just that in the game it gets really competitive and there’s a history of playing against one another that also sparks that competitiveness. I don’t think I’ll stop the way I’m playing, I’ll just follow the rules.”
Rabada’s absence did not hurt South Africa much, as they had won the second Test by a whopping margin of 340 runs but the Pacer was disappointed to miss out the series levelling victory.
“It’s never nice being banned. It was a disappointment, but if you’re not disappointed, it shows that you don’t care enough,” said Rabada. “I knew that I had messed up, but I knew that there were a lot of guys coming in that could perform. We’ve got a lot of talent. I’m not the main guy of the team.”
The suspension also came at a bad time for the right-arm Pacer who takes a bit of time to get his rhythm. He had found his rhythm at Lord’s after putting in some hard work and had to repeat the process at The Oval. Speaking about it, he said:
“It’s something that I’ve struggled with but it’s something that needs to be fixed. You don’t want to keep having to struggle for rhythm the whole time. It’s important that I find solutions on how to hit the ground running.”