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Kagiso Rabada suspended for second Test against England after giving Ben Stokes a send-off

Gabbar Singh

Test Debutant
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Nov 11, 2007
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South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada has been suspended for next week’s Trent Bridge Test after his accumulated demerit points reached four within a 24-month period following his latest breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for which he received a 15 per cent fine and one demerit point.

During the opening day’s play in the Lord’s Test against England on Thursday, Rabada was found guilty of breaching article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an International Match”.

As Rabada had received a 50 per cent fine and three demerit points in the fourth One-Day International against Sri Lanka in Cape Town on 8 February 2017, with the addition of this one demerit point, he has reached the threshold of four demerit points, which, pursuant to article 7.6 of the Code, have now been converted into two suspension points. Two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player.

As such, Rabada has been suspended from his side’s second Test against England, which will be played at Tent Bridge from 14-18 July.

Following this suspension, the four demerit points will remain on Rabada’s disciplinary record. If he reaches the next threshold of eight or more demerit points within a 24-month period, then they will be converted into four suspension points. Four suspension points equate to a ban from one Test and two ODIs or two T20Is, two Tests or four ODIs or four T20Is, whatever comes first for the player.

Thursday’s incident related to Rabada using inappropriate language after dismissing England batsman Ben Stokes, which were audible over the stump microphones and also resulted in the batsman to turn before walking off the field.

Rabada admitted the offence on Friday afternoon and accepted the sanction proposed by Jeff Crowe of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.

The charges were leveled by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and S.Ravi, third umpire Simon Fry and fourth official Rob Bailey.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/435386
 
That's what happens when you don't have the attitude of Rahat Ali.
:rahat1
[MENTION=865]Big Mac[/MENTION]
 
Seems a ridiculous sanction imo. Guys like Kohli, Starc, Steyn mouth off all the time and give abusive send offs but they never seem to get these reprimands.
 
Big blow for South Africa. Poor from Rabada.

Not really. Rabada isn't a great bowler.

And he should be allowed to give a batsman a send-off. Bowling is a very frustrating job.

But cricket is now a sissy game. As Andy Roberts said.
 
This is what happens when you make stupid rules. First gave batsmen free hit on noballs, now knock the main bowlers by taming the tigers to behave like lambs. This kind of stuff is killing cricket's most important commodity, fast bowlers :facepalm:
 
Not really. Rabada isn't a great bowler.

And he should be allowed to give a batsman a send-off. Bowling is a very frustrating job.

But cricket is now a sissy game. As Andy Roberts said.


Rabada is a brilliant bowler.

True but he clearly said something to upset the umpire.
 
This is what happens when you make stupid rules. First gave batsmen free hit on noballs, now knock the main bowlers by taming the tigers to behave like lambs. This kind of stuff is killing cricket's most important commodity, fast bowlers :facepalm:

Because screaming numerous expletives at the top of your lungs for all the kids in the crowd and watching on TV to hear sets a great example?
 
Because screaming numerous expletives at the top of your lungs for all the kids in the crowd and watching on TV to hear sets a great example?

Oh dear think of the kids!!!

Who cares? Point is, fine him. Suspending him hurts the game. This is rubbish. I have seen far worse and more abusive sendoffs not being punished. This was very tame.
 
Oh dear think of the kids!!!

Who cares? Point is, fine him. Suspending him hurts the game. This is rubbish. I have seen far worse and more abusive sendoffs not being punished. This was very tame.

Because I'm sure it's be great to walk down and watch a game of kids cricket in your local park to hear then aggressively shouting expletives at each other because 'the professional cricketers do it in tv'.

If he doesn't want to get banned he should take the hint and not repeatedly break the rules.
 
Where are they taking this great game to? What next - fast bowlers to be fined for unshaven chin?
 
Some really stupid comments... First people need to understand that just the fact that he swore hasn't gotten him suspended, there was in incident before as well,which was a bigger incident as he was given 3 points opposed to just 1 for what he did yesterday.

So what you want cricket to become a battlefield where after hitting a bowler for a 4 he should swear at him? There's a difference between aggression and abuse.
 
How has Kohli never had any action taken against him under this same rule?
 
People like living in a fantasy world. The world is a mean place and whether or cricketers use abusive language, you will still be learning it at schools, parks and from people in your family. What Sissy's

Anyway, Lungi Ngidi should be brought into the squad.
 
People like living in a fantasy world. The world is a mean place and whether or cricketers use abusive language, you will still be learning it at schools, parks and from people in your family. What Sissy's

Anyway, Lungi Ngidi should be brought into the squad.

Can learn it wherever they want, shouldn't unnecessarily be learning it from their idols whilst watching a cricket match.
 
Can learn it wherever they want, shouldn't unnecessarily be learning it from their idols whilst watching a cricket match.

Destroy a great sport for the sake of a bunch of kids learning something they'll learn anyway? Man, the world has become so soft.
 
Some really stupid comments... First people need to understand that just the fact that he swore hasn't gotten him suspended, there was in incident before as well,which was a bigger incident as he was given 3 points opposed to just 1 for what he did yesterday.

So what you want cricket to become a battlefield where after hitting a bowler for a 4 he should swear at him? There's a difference between aggression and abuse.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be punished. But I'm very disappointed in the lack of uniformity.

Abusive sendoffs are very very common. Kohli handed out 5-6 in the Australia series itself and not once was he reprimanded.
 
Destroy a great sport for the sake of a bunch of kids learning something they'll learn anyway? Man, the world has become so soft.

If removing directed aggressive verbal abuse destroys the sport for you then maybe you should be looking elsewhere for your entertainment?
 
Absolutely horrific, people are so damn sensitive. Rabada is my favourite SA bowler as it stands with Steyn no there consistently and I was very keen on keeping an eye on his progress through this series, such a damn shame
 
If removing directed aggressive verbal abuse destroys the sport for you then maybe you should be looking elsewhere for your entertainment?

But should he be banned for a Test match ?! it was said in the heat of the moment and folk have sledged stuff a lot worse, it's all been a part of the game historically and this new points rule is horrendous. And maybe the sport will not get killed but it does hurt it when talent you are looking forward to watching will be spending their time on a bench
 
South Africa SHOULD FORFEIT this TEST IN PROTEST ! :inzi
 
It's a bit of a joke, the cherub Stokes would never have done anything to incite the reaction, no sir. Rabada was naive to obviously rise to the bait, but the administrators should have been sensible and fined him his full match fees. I can't but suspect that it's easy to scapegoat Rabada to publicize their sanctimonious stand especially after they made such a song about discipline at the last ICC meeting. Imagine if this was someone like Kohli, these spineless money grabbing tarts won't have had the nerve to do anything. Pathetic.
 
But should he be banned for a Test match ?! it was said in the heat of the moment and folk have sledged stuff a lot worse, it's all been a part of the game historically and this new points rule is horrendous. And maybe the sport will not get killed but it does hurt it when talent you are looking forward to watching will be spending their time on a bench

Audibly wearing in full view of the world has never been part of the game. You may be missing the fact that it's accumulating 4 points that has got him suspended, for this incident he only got 1 of those points. He's a repeat offender who's not learnt his lesson and although it'll be sad to miss his skills from the next game, evidently something more drastic needs to be done to get the message in his head that he can't keep breaking the rules.
 
Don't understand some of the comments?So the players must be allowed to swear whenever and wherever?
 
Audibly wearing in full view of the world has never been part of the game. You may be missing the fact that it's accumulating 4 points that has got him suspended, for this incident he only got 1 of those points. He's a repeat offender who's not learnt his lesson and although it'll be sad to miss his skills from the next game, evidently something more drastic needs to be done to get the message in his head that he can't keep breaking the rules.

You too sensitive, if you think people should be banned for a swear in the heat of the moment then you must be very thin skinned. Now you have sissy cricket rules and sissy fans who advocate a test match ban, a little warning or small fine if we're really pushing it would have been more appropriate since we want to be sissy's and demonize these guys
 
unless there were racist remarks then the ban would seem justified but this is ridiculous. My god nothing going for the bowlers in this era of cricket
 
You too sensitive, if you think people should be banned for a swear in the heat of the moment then you must be very thin skinned. Now you have sissy cricket rules and sissy fans who advocate a test match ban, a little warning or small fine if we're really pushing it would have been more appropriate since we want to be sissy's and demonize these guys

It would only have been a small fine if he didn't already have 3 points against his name (the equivalent of verbally abusing a player 3 other times in the recent past) prior to this series.
 
Harsh but I understand why they did it. Swearing should not be tolerated, they're meant to be professional on the field.
 
It would only have been a small fine if he didn't already have 3 points against his name (the equivalent of verbally abusing a player 3 other times in the recent past) prior to this series.

The whole system is a load of crap ! the fact that he has been banned for a Test is a severe punishment for all his "offences" which have lead to this
 
Absolute BS decision and clearly racist. If this is what Rabada is banned for then Starc should be banned for a whole year because he mouths off non stop. I'm livid man. Hope he knocks out someone next innings.

Bunch of soft Brits. #darpok
 
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Absolute BS decision and clearly racist. If this is what Rabada is banned for then Starc should be banned for a whole year because he mouths off non stop. I'm livid man. Hope he knocks out someone next innings.

Bunch of soft Brits. #darpok

Only way I'll be content now is if he takes a 5fer in the next innings, but this is such a huge blow for an exciting youngster who is working his way up at the international level. Disgusting, am so so angry. This has sucked the life out of the Test series for me.
 
The whole system is a load of crap ! the fact that he has been banned for a Test is a severe punishment for all his "offences" which have lead to this

The system is fine. If you're a repeat offender and don't get the message from the individual punishments they'll build up to a larger punishment.
 
He isn't suspended just for this.. it's the accumulation of previous points
 
The system is fine. If you're a repeat offender and don't get the message from the individual punishments they'll build up to a larger punishment.

System is not fine at all, questions need to be asked when sissy's ban players for swearing in the heat of the moment and all the other minuscule points which he accumulated in the lead up to this Test Ban; it is a severe punishment
 
Yes, I'm sure Stokes has never heard a swear word before
 
Absolute BS decision and clearly racist. If this is what Rabada is banned for then Starc should be banned for a whole year because he mouths off non stop. I'm livid man. Hope he knocks out someone next innings.

Bunch of soft Brits. #darpok

Actually took quite a while (pleasantly surprising!) for somebody to call this decision racist.

We should see if there are actual numbers to suggest that cricketers of any particular racial background receive disproportionate punishments. Until then it's a matter of perception only.
 
Actually took quite a while (pleasantly surprising!) for somebody to call this decision racist.

We should see if there are actual numbers to suggest that cricketers of any particular racial background receive disproportionate punishments. Until then it's a matter of perception only.

Buttler, Wade, Stokes and Paine have all received the same punishment for abusive language in the last 12 months.
 
Buttler, Wade, Stokes and Paine have all received the same punishment for abusive language in the last 12 months.

Added to that in the recent champions trophy we saw both Tamim Iqbal and Hardik Pandya both get off lucky without a reprimand for dissent at an umpires decision and throwing a tantrum whilst leaving the field respectively.
 
If it was another batsman in place of Stokes, would Rabada get the same sympathy from posters?

From a personal perspective, I really enjoyed the send off because it was Stokes, but I can't help thinking that I would view Rabada harshly if it were any other player in place of Stokes.
 
Actually took quite a while (pleasantly surprising!) for somebody to call this decision racist.

We should see if there are actual numbers to suggest that cricketers of any particular racial background receive disproportionate punishments. Until then it's a matter of perception only.
If you have an answer for the name I brought up, feel free.
 
If you have an answer for the name I brought up, feel free.

With modern television you'll surely be able to bring up videos of multiple situations (4 for a ban) of Starc using abusive language directed at a batsman on international television if he's guilty?
 
No, they all received a dermit point, exactly what has happened to Rabada. It's just Rabadas fault he's built up 3 of them already.

Well, I can confidently say the likes of Wade and Stokes mouth off far more than Rabada. So this is definitely racist from my point of view. And it's beyond me how Starc is not banned yet. He should've had 10 dermit points in just one test match alone.
 
With modern television you'll surely be able to bring up videos of multiple situations (4 for a ban) of Starc using abusive language directed at a batsman on international television if he's guilty?

Yeah, because modern television catches everything the players say.
 
I don't see how anyone can argue this. Clearly a racist decision. I can see the white folk getting upset of me calling it what it is but it doesn't change the fact.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rababa Suspended for 1 match for a couple of Words ..... Give me a break ... what about the continuous slow over rates <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC">@icc</a> !????????</p>— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelVaughan/status/883416089044111365">July 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Added to that in the recent champions trophy we saw both Tamim Iqbal and Hardik Pandya both get off lucky without a reprimand for dissent at an umpires decision and throwing a tantrum whilst leaving the field respectively.

I take this law is only for English language because our Captain use abusive words every game
 
I take this law is only for English language because our Captain use abusive words every game

Match referees and umpires are always from a country other than thode playing (at least in tests) so naturally they probably won't speak or understand the local language.
 
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If abusive language during a send off isn't picked up by the stump mics chances are it hasn't been said loud enough for the umpire to hear either.

So what you are saying is that all of a sudden the stump mic only picks up all the stuff black people say which also means umpires do as well.
 
If abusive language during a send off isn't picked up by the stump mics chances are it hasn't been said loud enough for the umpire to hear either.

Umpires will ignore plenty if the players are backed by a strong board or it's a superstar player which Rabada most definitely is. So him getting banned for a test in the middle of a major series is no minor decision. But Rabada neither has the backing of an influential board or race on his side. I know you will find it offensive but some decisions are very clear cut racist to me. And in this case, I've brought up the names of players whom if were judged equally should've been banned before Rabada.
 
Umpires will ignore plenty if the players are backed by a strong board or it's a superstar player which Rabada most definitely is. So him getting banned for a test in the middle of a major series is no minor decision. But Rabada neither has the backing of an influential board or race on his side. I know you will find it offensive but some decisions are very clear cut racist to me. And in this case, I've brought up the names of players whom if were judged equally should've been banned before Rabada.

And Buttler, Wade, Paine and Stokes who were all found guilty of the same offence in the last 12 months and are all white don't play for influencial boards?
 
And Buttler, Wade, Paine and Stokes who were all found guilty of the same offence in the last 12 months and are all white don't play for influencial boards?

Like I said Wade, Starc and Stokes do it far more frequently than Rabada who minds his business most of the time thus should've been banned before him if judged equally. Why did I have to repeat this?
 
Like I said Wade, Starc and Stokes do it far more frequently than Rabada who minds his business most of the time thus should've been banned before him if judged equally. Why did I have to repeat this?

Because as I've stated if Wade, Starc and Stokes were all screaming expletives regularly as abuse during send offs like Rabada it would be picked up by stump mic if audible by the umpire.
 
I am personally not a fan of banning players for swearing but if Rabada is dumb enough to keep getting heard swearing near the stumps, may be he needs to be told to calm down and swear somewhere he cannot get caught. The more fines you get, the more sensitive the umpires are towards booking you on more charges.
 
I am personally not a fan of banning players for swearing but if Rabada is dumb enough to keep getting heard swearing near the stumps, may be he needs to be told to calm down and swear somewhere he cannot get caught. The more fines you get, the more sensitive the umpires are towards booking you on more charges.

To be fair on him his first 3 demerit points were for deliberate physical contact and not for swearing.
 
way too harsh a punishment. Not condoning swearing but this is top level sport sometimes your emotion can boil over. If it was picked up by the stump mic's then a fine would have been sufficient.
 
is this Rabada's first offense or has he been pulled up for foul language in the past ?
 
To be fair on him his first 3 demerit points were for deliberate physical contact and not for swearing.

That is even worse. Rabada is not the smartest, is he? Of course, people on this forum will love it until he swears out Sarfraz and then he will become the new sitcom villain.
 
way too harsh a punishment. Not condoning swearing but this is top level sport sometimes your emotion can boil over. If it was picked up by the stump mic's then a fine would have been sufficient.

Many people are missing the fact that this incident in isolation would have just got him a fine, it's the fact he already has 3 points on his record that got him the ban.
 
That is even worse. Rabada is not the smartest, is he? Of course, people on this forum will love it until he swears out Sarfraz and then he will become the new sitcom villain.

People on this forum didn't cry when Starc was mouthing off. Most of us actually enjoyed the battle unlike the pansies from other countries.
 
Anybody remember last year England vs Pakistan 3rd test match 2nd day what arrogant Anderson was doing and what did he get after end of the days play.
No warning, no fine nothing shameless ICC.
 
It would only have been a small fine if he didn't already have 3 points against his name (the equivalent of verbally abusing a player 3 other times in the recent past) prior to this series.

How many points Kohli has lost? - He says BC with such an open mouth, that we can not only hear but see it from 10,000 miles, not once but many times. How many suspension he has got??

Same is true for Strac, and many Auses. First time I am hearing ban on verbal abuses. Every Ashes, things get lot more heated, never heard of test match ban.
 
How many points Kohli has lost? - He says BC with such an open mouth, that we can not only hear but see it from 10,000 miles, not once but many times. How many suspension he has got??

Same is true for Strac, and many Auses. First time I am hearing ban on verbal abuses. Every Ashes, things get lot more heated, never heard of test match ban.

The very recent Ind vs Aus test series had many such incidents. Should have accumulated enough points in just 4 tests from both sides.
 
Why not announce this after the match? I understand the accumulation offers points and all but there has to be some common sense Jeez.
 
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Do you only get points and bans when you swear in English because I'd be a wealthy man if I got a dollar every time Kohli says "chal hat bc" to the opposition batsman when they are dismissed.

Also don't remember Swann even getting reprimanded for this:

"Graeme Swann became the first England off-spinner to take 10 wickets in a Test since Jim Laker famously routed the Australians in 1956, but his latest achievement in an outstanding year was laced with controversy because of a gratuitous outburst against the Bangladeshi batsman Junaid Siddique as the bowler finally swung the first Test in England's favour.

"F--- off," he roared, complete with one-finger salute, at a batsman who had just completed a maiden international hundred and whose obduracy in a sixth-wicket stand of 167 with Mushfiqur Rahim had held up England in all for 70 overs and four and a half hours."

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/mar/16/england-win-first-test-bangladesh

One of the most disgusting things I have seen to date in live cricket.

ICC should really clarify to whom their rules apply to.
 
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Tbh I love it when other teams give it back to teams like England, Australia and to an extent India (especially players like Kohli). They love to dish it out but act like newlywed brides when they are in the receiving end. A clear class structure exists within the ICC and you are blind if you don't see it.

Hope Rabada comes out fired up in the second innings and blows England away.
 
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