Captains Du Plessis and Smith clash over Rabada decision

South African captain Faf du Plessis today hit back at his Australian counterpart Steve Smith's criticism of the decision to overturn a ban on South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.

Rabada's punishment of three demerit points for deliberate physical contact with Smith in the second Test in Port Elizabeth was reduced to one point, overturning a two-match ban that would have seen him ruled out of the series.

Smith claimed in an overnight interview with Australian journalists that the contact with Rabada in the second Test in Port Elizabeth had been "a little bit harder than it actually looked on the footage".

The Australian captain said he was surprised he had not been asked his opinion before the ruling was made and also claimed that a "line in the sand" had been drawn regarding physical contact.

"The ICC have set the standard, haven't they? There was clearly contact out in the middle," said Smith.

"I certainly won't be telling my bowlers to go out there and after you take a wicket go and get in their space. I don't think that is on and part of the game. But the standard has been set."
"I was there and I said to our people that even if we didn't win the case I was very impressed with the judge and how he listened to both sides. He was very fair with the questions he asked. I think that process is really good."
"He wasn't charged. If he was charged he probably would (have been) asked. KG (Rabada) was charged, he was defending himself and the judge has to decide if he sees that it was intentional."
- 'Contact was harder than it looked' -
"I said yesterday the contact was harder than it actually looked on the TV, whether it was intentional or not is not for me to decide."
"For us it is about playing the game the way we've always played it," he said. "We'll speak out in the middle, we won't do anything I guess to antagonise him into making the sorts of mistakes he's been (making). That's up to him if he wants to make those errors."