Rabada ban for celebrating wicket "absolutely bonkers", feels Michael Vaughan

London, Jan 17: South Africa pace ace Kagiso Rabada getting banned for one match for being found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel has not gone down well with former England captain Michael Vaughan, who has slammed the verdict.

"Rabada getting a 1 game ban for celebrating taking the Wicket of the opponents best player is absolutely bonkers ..." Vaughan said in a tweet.

He added that slow over rates are not punished but a celebration of a wicket is given such harsh treatment.

"Over rates & slow play nothing gets done ... Celebrate a wicked and you are banned ... The World is bloody nuts," he fumed.

The South African bowler was found to have violated Article 2.5 of the code, which relates to "using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his or her dismissal during an international match".

The charge relates to Rabada's actions following the dismissal of Joe Root. After the day's play, Rabada admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.

He was fined 15 per cent of his match fee and also received one demerit point.

Rabada has now accumulated four demerit points in a 24 month period and will miss South Africa's next Test match. The four-match series is locked 1-1 and Rabada took two wickets on Day 1.

An unbeaten 76-run stand between Ben Stokes (38*) and Ollie Pope (39*) saw England end the opening day of the third Test against South Africa at 224/4 at the St. George's Park.

Opting to bat first, the visitors were off to a decent start before they lost three wickets within the span of 45 runs to give the hosts an edge. But Stokes and Pope then joined hands and denied the Proteas bowlers any further opportunity of making any inroads into the English batting.