Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Australian captain Steve Smith says that his side will not be looking to bait Kagiso Rabada into making a disciplinary mistake in the third Test against the Proteas at Newlands.
In another eventful week of off-field activity in this series, Rabada was on Tuesday informed that his appeal against a two-match suspension was successful and that he would be available for selection for Newlands.
It is obviously a massive boost to South Africa's chances.
Smith was quoted on Monday night voicing his disapproval at the decision, saying that he felt that the contact in the 'shoulder brush' between himself and Rabada in the second Test in Port Elizabeth was worse than what it had looked like on TV.
Smith also raised questions as to why he was not asked to attend Rabada's appeal hearing.
While his charge was lessened from a Level 2 offence to Level 1, Rabada remains one demerit point away from that two-match suspension, leaving him in the same boat as Australia's David Warner, who copped three demerit points after his Durban altercation with Quinton de Kock.
Ahead of the second Test, Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis admitted that it might be a tactic to look to rile Warner and bait him into making a mistake on the field that would see him earn another demerit point and a suspension.
Smith, though, insists that the Aussies will not be looking to do the same to Rabada.
"No, not at all. If he wants to carry on and make mistakes then so be it, but we're just going to play the game as we've played it and hopefully try and go 2-1 up in this series," Smith said, before turning his attention to Du Plessis.
"I saw Faf mention before the last Test that they may try and bait him (Warner), so if they want to play like that then go for it, but we certainly won't be doing the same thing with Rabada.
"Obviously both now are one indiscretion away from a ban, but we won't be playing like that.
"For us it's about playing the game the way we've always played it. We'll speak out in the middle, but we won't do anything in a way to antagonise him to make mistakes."
Smith would not elaborate on whether or not he felt that Rabada had intentionally bumped into his shoulder in PE.
"It's not my place to make that judgement. It's been handed down now and it is what it is," he said.
"I said yesterday that the contact was harder than it actually looked on the TV. Whether it was intentional or not, that's not for me to decide."
