Rabada heartbroken over Test ban

Kagiso Rabada is "heartbroken" at being banned from next week's second Test against England at Trent Bridge, according to South Africa team-mate Temba Bavuma. Rabada was suspended after picking up a fourth demerit point for swearing at England's Ben Stokes after he dismissed the all-rounder on the first day of this four-match series at Lord's on Thursday. The fast bowler, one of world cricket's rising stars, was previously given three demerit points for a shove on Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella in a one-day international in Cape Town in February.

"It's unnecessary. I think it could have been handled with some common sense"@GraemeSmith49 on @KagisoRabada25 ban pic.twitter.com/0knRbnT2iz

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) July 8, 2017

"KG (Kagiso) is an emotional character - he didn't purposely act like that, but he was fully aware of the consequences," Bavuma told reporters after stumps on Saturday. "He is quite heartbroken, because he feels he has let down the team. But we fully understand it happened in the heat of the moment," added Bavuma.

Poor snowflake Stokes, I hope his ears recover from that fearful gobful from Rabada. Sure the ICC demerit system has its merits, but really! — Andrew Miller (@miller_cricket) July 7, 2017

England ended the third day of the first Test well-placed at 119 for one in their second innings - a lead of 216 runs. The diminutive Bavuma, one of several Proteas batsmen to make fifty without going in a first innings total of 361, said he had been "sledged" (subjected to verbal abuse) on the cricket field since he was a schoolboy. "You don't want it to be completely taken away but you still want the respect of the game to be there," he added. "A balance needs to be achieved." Meanwhile there was a measure of sympathy for Rabada from England paceman James Anderson. No stranger to verbal dust-ups with the likes of Australia's Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke, as well as a spat with India's Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge three years ago, Anderson had mixed feelings regarding Rabada's ban. "Obviously, it's good for us - because he's an outstanding bowler," Anderson said.

The ones that suffer the most are the paying public! #Rabada #EngvSA— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) July 8, 2017

"It's a tough one, because for me I like to see bowlers playing with aggression -  which he obviously does. "But the scrutiny we're under now, with stump mics, 'spidercam' out there, you can't really get away with anything. "As much as we like to see players with passion, there's obviously a line that the ICC have drawn - and you've got to stay the right side of it."