suspension has been lifted, it's game on, a victory for the Ozzies without having to face him would have been a hollow one. The series is now nicely set to become fierce and exciting with no quarter given or asked for.....Test cricket at it's finest.
Denny
The lawyers quickly enough saw through the plan of Smith to get Rabada disqualified from the remaining two tests by creating an incident to try and implicate Rabada in an unacceptable incidetit.
Looking at the incident repeatedly it was clear that Rabada was not looking at Smith at all and was moving to other SA players celebrating Smith's dismissal - while Smith looked straight at Rabada moving in a line to shoulder Rabada in the process, It was purely intentional n the part of Smith and Rabada did not even see the incident coming j\hence the lack of intention mentioned in the findings..
It must have been abundantly clear to the judicial committee that the reason for the incident was Smith's intention to implicate Rabada so as to engineer a banning. The result of the enquiry was supposed to be announced tomorrow - but it came out today. That indicates that Rabada was not responsible for the incident. Rabada was fined for celebrating a dismissal in the first innings and found innocent iro the Smith dismissal incident.
I think the evidence and findings will be handed over to the ICC and some action may yet be taken against Smith. The latter is known widely for being an unpleasant and sneaky bastard and that anything like his conduct in this series can be expected from him.
I think Smith will have a really torrid time from all SA players who would have seen what he was up to in the second test. His sneaky act c ould yet backfire on him..
Gonna be funny as hell when Rabada gets Smith out and the "hush" celebration happens.
Hopefully not a single player will make a peep but everyone just runs to the middle and stands there silently looking at him with huge smiles on their faces. Would make it even better if Rabada hushes the other guys "Shhhhhhh"
Mozart
It is clear for anyone to see that Smith stage-managed that shoulder story and now the asshole made the following comments in the newspaper:-
"Australia captain Steve Smith has criticised the decision to overturn the ban that will allow Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada to play in the third Test at Newlands, starting on Thursday.
Rabada was banned by match referee Jeff Crowe after going over the threshold of eight demerit points for brushing Smith’s shoulder when dismissing the visiting skipper in the first innings of the second Test in Port Elizabeth.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) though appealed the decision and contested the level two charge with Michael Heron QC of New Zealand ruling in favour of the Proteas on Tuesday.
Herron deemed that the contact between Rabada and Smith was not 'inappropriate and deliberate physical contact' with the Level 2 charge reduced to a Level 1 and the paceman free to play.
In quotes published on the Cricinfo website, Smith said about the decision: "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.
"I certainly think he bumped me a little bit harder than it actually looked on the footage. It didn't bother me too much.
"I guess the emotion after you get out he's won the battle. What's the point of over-celebrating? And getting in the face of a batter, you've already won the battle.
"But they've obviously decided what's deliberate contact and what's not, and apparently it wasn't."
The Australia skipper also found it strange that he was not called to testify in the appeal process, especially since he was the other player involved in the incident.
Smith continued: "The other person involved not getting asked about it is pretty interesting, I thought. You still want to come up against the best players. That's part of playing the game and Kagiso is No.1 in the world.
"It was interesting the way things played out and that he was able to get the charge brought down with an appeal."
The series is currently level at 1-1 with the Newlands Test to be followed by a match at the Wanderer.The sneaky asshole engineered the whole ting and is now unhappy about the fact that his little scheme did not work out like he endeavoured to get done - the banning of Rabada, He said he was not asked for an input at the enquiry, He was bloody lucky he was not called - the SA Cricket advocate is a serious threat in courts - I have seen him frequently in the court cases involving Zuma. He would cut Smith to pieces and expose the foul attempt of Smith to get rid of Rabada in the remaining tests.
I think the judicial official saw through the Smith scheme and just ruled against him.
Mozart is as per normal totally wrong about the issue involved in the appeal, The demerit point relates to an incident in the first innings and was not part of the appeal hearing at all.
Unfortunately the precedent has now been set for players to appeal.
The game will suffer.
Denny
Sorry I do not agree with you here.
It is quite possibile that the sh!t brained scheme by for instance Smith could sway a decision against a player like Rabada and in such cases an injustice would be done. So to my mind appeals should be allowed to happen and is a judicious essential.
You've been casting aspersions about the Ozzie captain without any supporting evidence....and you've conveniently ignored my request to state them.
Truth be told Rabada admitted to his transgressions soon after he was charged....kinda puts a dead stop to any further debate. Further to the facts, Rabada has a poor disciplinary record....Smith hasn't.
It's a sad day that cricket has now been dragged into a court of law and that the match referee, a neutral placed in charge by the ICC will be the subject of conjecture.
There was a string of newspaper reports in 2016 about Smith being nasty individual - that was before he became captain. I also have seen the incident repeatedly and fact is that Rabada did not even look at Smith -while Smith walked into the line Rabada was advancing looking straight at him. Smith left shoulder was going forwards in the process - if the incident was caused by Rabada - his shoulder would have gone backwards.
Question was the route taken b\y Smith on the way to the pavilion and the answer is no it was not.
It was clear that Smith' s intention was to cause a slight touch and he immediately turned around to bring it to the attention of the umpire in what could only be a contrived reaction to signal his success in achieving what he set out to do,
I think the SAC lawyer would have cut Smith to pieces if he was asked for his input and questioned by Mpofu.
So you have nothing you can add about Smith other than a "string of newspaper reports in 2016"
Not a single fact other than "reports".....Sjampies Is that the best you have to offer??...seriously????
Tell you what Mickey......I'm not going to wrestle that bone from your jaws. You're no different to the people you accuse of being prejudiced.
As for Smith walking in the opposite direction on his exit......perhaps next time someone should lend him a compass or perhaps even arrange a personal escort. Fixed
Sanity has prevailed and yes lets hope Rabada blasts out Smi th for a pair!