Kagiso Rabada to Test teams outside the Big Three: ‘Play good cricket, give fans entertainment’

With talk at the recent World Cricket Connect event, hosted by the MCC, of reducing the number of top-tier Test teams to six, South Africa and particularly West Indies, who finished eighth in the last two WTC cycles, have reason to be concerned about their long-format future. But Rabada hopes players can sway the minds of the decision-makers by putting in compelling performances.

“Cricket is about giving entertainment. Sport is about giving entertainment to the fans. And with cricket being the second-most popular sport in the world, after football, based on the numbers in the subcontinent, it’s very certain that cricket is providing entertainment for the fans,” Rabada said. “And for the fans to get good entertainment, the cricket has to be good. I just feel as if when good cricket is played, then the best teams want to play against those teams. It’s up to us to play good Test cricket. And if you play good Test cricket, then you start to get a good following.”

“We saw when West Indies went and beat Australia, that brought a spark back to West Indies Test cricket. And more of that just needs to happen. The celebrations after Shamar Joseph bowled the way that he did – people were crying, people were very emotional. A picture tells a story of a thousand words. So all you have to do is look at those scenes and it’ll tell you.”

“It will be such a special landmark but I’m not focused on that. It will just be a byproduct,” he said. “I’m just focused on making sure that I’m there for the team and that I find a way to put in a performance. Putting in a performance ultimately means that the team is moving in the right direction and that I’m doing my part.”

It’s also about the future of the game. “The Caribbean is my favourite place to tour. I love coming here. There’s a lot of history and cricket and cricketing history here,” he said. “It will be sad if there are only six (Test) teams and it would be sad to not see West Indies cricket in and amongst the top teams as they used to be because they used to dominate world cricket.”