Like any fan of the game, Mark Boucher wants the International Cricket Council (ICC) to find a balance when regulating how players — and especially aggressive fast bowlers such as South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada — display their emotions on the field so as not to over-sanitize the sport.
“Don’t take the emotion out of the game, because I still think there is a very big part for that in the game of cricket,” South Africa’s head coach said.
While making that point, Boucher also said that Rabada maybe went too far when he celebrated, screaming and with fists pumping, right in front of Joe Root after bowling the England captain on day 2 of the ongoing third Test in Port Elizabeth.
Photo: AFP
South Africa were 113-5 at tea on day 3, still 386 runs behind England’s first innings of 499-9 declared on a rain-shortened day Dominic Bess had all five wickets.
The Rabada incident has put reasonably new ICC regulations guiding how and where players vent their emotions on the cricket field back under scrutiny.
The 24-year-old Rabada, a star of the sport, received a demerit or disciplinary point for his over-zealous celebration. An accumulation of those points led to him being banned for the final Test next week.
Photo: AFP
There has been criticism of the rules and the suspension of Rabada. He was charged and punished by cricket’s ruling body for “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter.”
Some question whether the ICC is going too far and trying to restrict players showing their feelings.
However, Rabada would not have been disciplined if he celebrated in the same way a meter or two to the left or right of Root. His venting right in front of Root — “yes, he was in his space,” Boucher said — was the problem, because it was deemed provocative.
Rabada appeared to intentionally head straight for Root.
This is where the criticism that the ICC is removing emotion from cricket might be misplaced, because Rabada, young, energetic and fiercely competitive, has celebrated plenty of wickets this series with equal zealousness, just not right in the face of an opposing player and the ICC has not had any issue with it.
Another incident from this series saw England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler fined for his expletive-laden taunting of South Africa’s Vernon Philander in the second Test in Cape Town.
On-field sledging between players is far from new in cricket, but Buttler’s swearing was caught on a stump microphone and broadcast fairly clearly to a live TV audience of all ages.
Buttler was fined, a move also criticized by some commentators and former players, although the ICC does not appear unreasonable in its concerns over swear words ringing out on live TV during a game.
There is evidence of some balance from cricket officials in this regard, too. When Buttler walked out to bat on Friday, South Africa’s players greeted him with some words of their own, but nothing was caught on any microphone.
Most cricketers see sledging, within reason, as a part of the game and the ICC is not going to be taking any action against anyone for Buttler’s fiery welcome because it all stayed on the field among the players.
As Ollie Pope, the other England batter out there when Buttler arrived, said: “What’s said on the pitch stays on the pitch, unless the stump mics pick up on it.
Additional reporting by staff writer
INDIA-AUSTRALIA
AFP, RAJKOT, India
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