From ban to battle: Kagiso Rabada set for World Test Championship showdown at Lord's
South Africa's leading pace bowler, Kagiso Rabada, is expecting a verbal jousting as the team prepares for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at Lord's in England next week.
The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) confirmed on their website that the fast bowler had metabolite of Cocaine in his system after he was tested during the SA20 tournament in February.
Rabada sat through a month-long ban in April — which was brought down from the stipulated three months, after completing Saids' substance abuse treatment programme.
'Any type of verbal abuse, or the media wanting to say something is normal. That's the field that we play in,' Rabada said.
'You can't be ignorant of it, you have to be aware of it, but it's not anything that's going to slow me down.'
South Africa will look to Rabada to set the tone with the ball in the final as the leading wicket-taker in the side, and the fifth highest overall for South Africa.
Rabada is expecting opponents Australia to have a go at him too, but it's something he's embracing, acknowledging that being riled up often extracts his best performances.
'They come at you, and I think that gets the best out of me,' he said. 'They've been notorious for that over the years.'
Home of Cricket
Keshav Maharaj and Rabada are the only two members of South Africa's WTC squad to have played more than one Test match at the ground widely referred to as 'the Home of Cricket'.
Rabada has fond memories of his second occasion there too, picking up a player-of-the-match award and having his name on the famous honours board after collecting five wickets for 52 runs in the first innings of South Africa's innings-and-12-run defeat of England in 2022.
'Lord's is a special ground and I'm glad to be on the honours board there and to be there along with some great company, and hopefully I can be on there again, that would be great,' he said. 'But if I don't get on it and we win, I'd rather take that.'
The surface at the ground is likely to aid Maharaj's left-arm orthodox, according to Rabada.
'You have an idea of what Lord's will play like, but you just never know,' he said. 'Lord's can move around on the first day and then it sort of gets a bit placid, it gets nice to bat on.
'But there's always something there. Right now, it's kind of dry in England. It hasn't rained so the square is probably going to dry out a bit, so it might take some spin.
'Lord's normally takes some spin. It's about understanding what sort of climate you're going to get and then bowling according to what game-plan you want to adapt to, depending on if it's going to nip around a bit or stay low a bit.
'Generally, as the game goes on at Lord's it normally gets a bit lower, so let's see.'
Another element to adjust to at the venue in London, outside of the occasion, is the idiosyncrasies of the square. The square has a 2.5-metre slope that takes adjusting to for bowlers.
Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen — who are in South Africa's WTC squad — also played in the match in 2022, so would have experienced the slope before. Dane Paterson, who plays for Middlesex, whose home ground is Lord's, would also be well adjusted.
'It's pretty interesting but it's just about trying to hit the top of off stump, whether you're bowling up the slope or down the slope,' Rabada said.
'People overthink the slope.'
On-field focus
While Rabada has shifted his focus firmly onto what needs to happen on the field, he has played very little cricket since returning from his ban — only playing two matches for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. He went at over 10 runs to the over on both occasions.
But how does the bowler feel heading into the biggest red-ball match of his career?
'I feel good, I'm ready. I'm not focused on the result, I'm focused on playing.
'My body feels good, my mind feels good. I'm ready to play. I'm excited to see what Australia can bring to us.' DM
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