Five-wicket haul Kagiso Rabada blocking out the noise

By Benjamin Leshoro
12th June 2025

Proteas premier fast bowler Kagiso Rabada says all he had to do was block out the noise and do what he knows best in day one of the World Test Championship final against Australia.

Rabada stole the show on Day 1 of the match, as he returned figures of 5/51 and earned a standing ovation from the Lord’s crowd as he walked off the field. It comes on the back of a difficult period tainted by controversy for him, both personally and professionally, and he says what matters at the end of the day is the cricket.

"Understanding the bottom line is important, and the bottom line for a bowler is to bowl a good line and length. Everything else is just noise.

"Everything else adds to the package and atmosphere of cricket, but the bottom line is the game itself, " emphasised the Proteas speedster.

READ: Kagiso Rabada urges Proteas batters to combat Australia's pace trio on Lord's pitch

The speedster must have known that his failed drug test earlier this year will set some tongues wagging in the lead up to the match, but says he has moved on from the incident.

He dismissed talk that the top performance was due to being fired up by the murmurs in the days before.

"As I've alluded to, that obviously wasn't my best moment, but life moves on, and every game I play for South Africa, I give my utmost best," said Rabada with pride.

Rabada’s five-for was his second at the home of cricket and takes his name to the honours board there for the second time. It also took him past Allan Donald to fourth on the all-time wicket takers’ list for South Africa in test matches, behind only greats like Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, and Makhaya Ntini.

The 30-year-old says he was happy with restricting them to 212, although the target was a lot lower. The Proteas then had a shaky start of their own with the bat and are 43/4 going into Day 2, but Rabada says there’s no need for panic buttons as yet.

"You'd take 212 as a total to chase. We were thinking we might bowl them out for around 160, but that's just how the game goes. Right now, we are sitting at 43/4, which is far from the start we were after, but there is still a lot of cricket that needs to be played," concluded the 30-year-old.