{"id":806238,"date":"2026-10-18T04:32:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T04:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806238\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T04:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T04:32:23","slug":"testosterone-to-burn-kagiso-rabada-plays-down-2018-clash-with-australias-steve-smith-australia-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806238\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Testosterone to burn\u2019: Kagiso Rabada plays down 2018 clash with Australia\u2019s Steve Smith | Australia cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kagiso Rabada insists there is no lingering bad blood with Australia as the South Africa speedster prepares to return to the site of his controversial clash with Steve Smith.<\/p>\n

Rabada has been declared fit to come back from his hamstring tear and face Australia in the second Test at St George\u2019s Park, in his first match since May. The South African\u2019s return comes at a crucial point in the series, with the hosts fighting to stay alive after their 214-run pumping in Durban last week.<\/p>\n

But it is also timely, given it was at St George\u2019s Park where Rabada was initially banned for two Tests for colliding with Smith while celebrating taking his wicket in 2018.<\/p>\n

Rabada ultimately had his ban downgraded to a fine, leaving Smith and Australia unhappy that the batter was not able to speak at the hearing. The shoulder bump, and ensuing appeal, was one of the final flash points of the ill-spirited series before the ball-tampering scandal overshadowed it all.<\/p>\n

Rabada celebrates taking the wicket of Smith in 2018. Photograph: Mike Hutchings\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Rabada has played against Australia 23 times across all formats since then without issue, while also being a teammate to some in franchise leagues. Speaking to local media before Sunday\u2019s return, the 31-year-old made it clear he had no ill will towards Smith, even if he couldn\u2019t see the pair meeting for coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is just the emotion of the game. It\u2019s about playing within the rules,\u201d Rabada said. \u201cAs an athlete you want to go out and express yourself. There\u2019s no hate off the field or anything like that. It\u2019s a bunch of top-performing athletes who\u2019ve got testosterone to burn. It\u2019s the heat of the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, with the ICC, you have to take into consideration the rules that have been put in place regarding viewers who are watching the game, and keeping the game in a good light. That\u2019s understandable. You need characters in sport. But you also need to play within the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s wicket was the first of 11 Rabada took for the match at St George\u2019s Park in 2018, on his way to being man of the series. The right-armer also has the second best record of any quick against Australia this century, with his 58 wickets at 21.39 behind only India\u2019s Jasprit Bumrah.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019ll obviously feed off the performances that he\u2019s had against Australia,\u201d captain Temba Bavuma said. \u201cThe bowlers, they feed massively over him. He leads the attack in everything that he does. And then I think he brings an extra level of confidence to the unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mentioned the aura. There\u2019s a lot of belief in KG, and a lot of the guys rub off there. He\u2019s raring to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Africa will wait until Sunday to decide their final side, with rain predicted for the opening day and both teams preparing for a shortened Test. The Proteas have already confirmed Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne will be dropped, with Marques Ackerman and Matthew Breetzke expected to come in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kagiso Rabada insists there is no lingering bad blood with Australia as the South Africa speedster prepares to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-806238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}