I don’t want to see 22 robots on the cricket field

YES, I know Kagiso Rabada already had thee demerit points and has been a serial offender. He has probably been warned time and again about his behaviour. And when I emailed Shaun Pollock before this series and said: ‘Tell me how Rabada is going,’ he answered that the only area of concern was he still didn’t control his emotions. So, after getting warned for over-reacting to the dismissal of Zak Crawley at Newlands in the second Test, it was stupid of Rabada to repeat his celebration on getting Joe Root out on day one here. But let’s put it into context and look at the incident itself. It was 33 degrees with high humidity in Port Elizabeth and Rabada was bowling on a flat pitch to the England captain after being denied the new ball. He then produced a jaffa to get Root out. There was no physical nor eye contact and no sledging. And I didn’t hear anyone on Thursday saying his celebration warranted a demerit point. Nor did I hear anyone from the England camp complaining. If the game has a law which says a bowler should not invade the batsman’s space at times like that because it might provoke him then frankly the law’s an ass. And it is easy to sit up in an air conditioned media box and get all high and mighty about it. This was raw emotion, it was theatre and it was passion. OK, Rabada might have celebrated a yard further away from Root but I don’t want to see 22 robots on the cricket field. Emotion makes Rabada the cricketer he is. The ICC are in charge of regulations but they are also in charge of protecting the health of Test cricket, a game we are constantly told is dying. And the final Test at the Wanderers will be a lesser spectacle now for the absence of Rabada. Yet again the game has shot itself in the foot — but so has Rabada.