Ready Rabada: ‘May the best man win’

South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada is looking forward to facing Australia’s famed sledging tactics in the upcoming Test series Down Under.

While the Aussies are hardly the same ‘banter’-ing side they once were, Rabada expects some healthy verbal exchanges, starting on 3 November in Perth.

Rabada said: “The boys are keen for it, but Australia are a very good team and nothing’s going to come easy. International cricket is not easy at all.

“Australia are going to come hard, we’re going to try and come hard. May the best man win.”

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh felt that the current lot were ‘flat’ in their recent series in Sri Lanka, where they lost the Test series three-nil.

He hoped that a return to home soil would spark a bit of fire in the Aussies, telling the CA website: “We just have to show some more intent and some more purpose, particularly in the field.

“I thought we were very flat in Sri Lanka and didn’t have the energy and the input that Steve Smith is looking for as captain. Everyone’s got to take on that responsibility.

“You should be clever about your talk on the field and if you can put some doubts in the opposition player’s mind by being clever, that’s fine.

“And that’s always happened, that’s the way it is in Test cricket. That’ll happen again, no doubt, when there’s passion and emotion.

“You’re out there for six hours each day, it’s a long time to be quiet. There’s always going to be a bit of talk out there.”

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