Last-ditch bid for Rabada

THE wording used by Jeff Crowe in his report on Kagiso Rabada is set to be picked apart by South Africa’s legal team in its desperate bid for the fast bowler to play the third Test.

South Africa is expected to point to a perceived discrepancy between match referee Crowe’s initial report on the incident with Australian captain Steve Smith, and the eventual charge laid out in the International Cricket Council’s official press release.

The Proteas legal eagles will say at today’s hearing there’s a contradiction between Crowe’s description of the incident as being “avoidable and inappropriate contact” between “Rabada and Smith”, compared to the final charge which blamed the mid-pitch contact exclusively on Rabada.

South Africa is pulling out all stops to try and prove that Smith was partially to blame for his send-off getting physical. It’s understood South Africa has sought input from body movement experts in a bid to try and present new footage that argues Rabada in fact tries to pull away from the bump.

Also at the heart of South Africa’s all-or-nothing challenge is its claims of inconsistency on the part of the ICC.

Rabada was charged with a grade two contrary conduct which carried three demerit points. The Proteas are demanding to know how his send-off could be judged so significantly worse than David Warner’s fiery exchange with Aiden Markram in the first Test, which did not come under scrutiny.

Rabada supporters are also asking how an out-of-control finale to a Twenty20 match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh could finish with no players copping any worse than grade one charges.