Rabada returns from four-month layoff as South Africa chase Test series against Australia

Rabada back for must-win second Test

Kagiso Rabada has not played a match of any sort for more than four-and-a-half months, with the last two of those months lost to a hamstring injury. Now he is set to return as South Africa look to keep their Test series against Australia alive in the second Test at St George's Park, scheduled to start on Sunday.

South Africa were outbatted, outbowled and even outfielded in the first Test at Kingsmead, which Australia won by 214 runs on Tuesday. The home side's spearhead has been pronounced fit and available for the next match.

No time for a gentle comeback

Asked whether he would have preferred a gentler reintroduction in less pressured circumstances, Rabada was blunt. "I don't have a game or two," he told reporters on Saturday. "We're 1-0 down. There's no game or two. You have to do the best that you can with what you've been given."

On confidence, he acknowledged that it is built over time. "Some days you don't go in confident. I've probably gone into games not feeling confident more than I have been extremely confident. So it's about finding a way."

Ageing and the one-percenters

Rabada, who turns 32 in seven months, said the physical demands of staying at the top grow with age. "The older you get the more you're going to have to train because your body slows down a lot. And the more you have to look into the one-percenters of how you're going to recover."

He added: "The older you get the slower your body is going to respond [to treatment]. That's been the case for me in the last year or two. But it's part and parcel of the game and it's not something that makes me anxious."

Lessons from Sandpapergate

In the previous Test between these teams at St George's Park, the second match of the Sandpapergate series in March 2018, Rabada was fined for walking into Steven Smith after trapping him in front, and Cricket South Africa had to hire Dali Mpofu to get him out of a disciplinary jam. Rabada was rampant on the field that match, taking 5/96 and 6/54 as South Africa won by six wickets.

Asked whether he had learned from that episode, he said: "As an athlete you want to go out and express yourself. There's no hate off the field or anything like that. It's the heat of the moment." He added: "But, with the ICC, you have to take into consideration the rules that have been put in place regarding viewers who are watching the game. You need characters in sport. But you also need to play within the rules."

Playing on instinct

Rabada said he prefers to let the game guide him. "I know what I want to do but I don't know the emotions I'm going to feel. Right now I feel ready. I feel confident. But there's always mystery in sport."

He also warned against over-standardisation in the modern game: "You look at T20 cricket and 50-over cricket — especially T20 actually — everything is so standardised. There's so much footage... It's really important to keep your naturalness because that's what makes you you."

Motivation from Lord's

South Africa beat Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship final at Lord's in June last year, their biggest moment as a team. Rabada said: "That's one of the hallmarks of our journey as a team... So you've got to remember that and draw confidence from it. But you also realise that time is moving on."

Injury and rehabilitation

Cricket South Africa said on August 21 that Rabada's winter training programme had been disrupted by a right hamstring injury. He was the most prominent of six players in South Africa's international ranks to be hit by injury during what was described as a hamdemic, five of them fast bowlers. Rabada was part of the squad in Durban, where he worked on his rehabilitation, but was kept out of the Kingsmead Test as a precaution. "It was more about getting it to heal so that I can play at full intensity," he said.

Dressing-room role

Though he watched the Kingsmead Test from the sidelines, Rabada has 73 Test caps behind him. "You don't want to flood the guys with information. But whenever someone needs some sort of tip or exchange of information I'm always there. You have to trust the guys." He added: "As someone who's been in the team for quite some time, if I have something to say I'll say it. But that's very seldom."