KG makes sure his celebration is PG

After being suspended from the second Test for using an expletive to send off Ben Stokes in the first innings at Lord's, Kagiso Rabada has learnt his lesson about saying too much.

After dismissing Stokes for the second time, Rabada made it apparent he would not be saying anything when he put his finger to his lips as Stokes walked after being pinned lbw. And to make doubly sure silence was maintained, stand-in captain Dean Elgar covered Rabada's mouth with his own hand.

"The first person that gets to him when he takes a wicket needs to throw a hand over his mouth, like I did," Elgar said after the match. "Hopefully, he learns from this."

On the first day of the Test, when Rabada had Stokes caught behind, the stump mic picked up Rabada telling the England allrounder to "f*** off." That earned Rabada one demerit point, adding to the three he already had equating to a one-match suspension.

Several former and current cricketers including Graeme Smith have come out in Rabada's defense and the man himself is said to be "heartbroken," by the sanction.

"He realises that he is missing a game for South Africa which hurts, he has possibly let the team down," Elgar added. "Even more so, he has let himself down. I'm not 100 percent sure he has apologised to the team. A lot of things have happened in the past four days but I know he has apologised to senior management."

"It's a big loss for everything - A big loss for the Proteas, a big loss for Test cricket," Elgar said. "He is a vitally important bowler within our attack. He adds a different dynamic to our bowling attack, he has the aggression factor which is quite important in Test cricket to get those breakthroughs. He has been a phenomenal strength for us in all formats. It's an opportunity for someone else to come in and maybe start a career, maybe it's just for one game. The game of cricket is at a loss for him not playing."

South Africa will likely look to Chris Morris to play as a second bowling allrounder in Rabada's absence, and could also go into the match a batsmen short, leaving out Theunis de Bruyn for Duanne Olivier.