Rabada handed two-Test suspension

Dubai: Kagiso Rabada has been suspended for two Test matches by the ICC and will thus play no further part in the series against Australia.

He has been found guilty of a Level 2 ICC Code of Conduct offence of ‘inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player’.

Besides the three demerit points added to his disciplinary record, he has also received a fine of 50 per cent of his match fee.

With the three demerit points, he has now accumulated eight demerit points within a two year period  which results to a two match suspension. With Rabada being rapped for two incidents, ICC has come down heavily on the shoulder contact with Steve Smith in the first innings.

The South Africa seamer moved towards the slips to celebrate Smith’s dismissal and made contact then.

Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has also been fined 20 percent of his match and handed one demerit point for a Level 1 offence under 2.1.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

Under the code, “using language or gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match,” Marsh was charged for inappropriate langauge after being dismissed on the fourth day of the Test. The Aussie accepted the charge without any formal hearing.