Razeen Gutta
South Africa will begin their three match test series at Lord’s tomorrow with an “aggressive” but “smart” attitude, according to coach Mark Boucher, as Brandon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ new era England side await.
The hosts have won their last four tests under the leadership of new captain Stokes, including a 3-0 whitewash over World Test champions New Zealand and a hard-fought win over India.
England chased down tough targets against both sides and the aggressive approach, commonly known as Bazball in reference to McCullum’s nickname, has come back into the conversation now that the Proteas are in town.
When asked how he planned on countering the approach, Boucher said it’s all about being able to adapt.
“I don’t know [how SA will county Bazball]. I’ll tell you on the day. We’ve got to be adaptable in test cricket. It’s just about finding a way to try and stop their momentum and maybe change it,” he said at his press conference this week.
“We believe we’ve been playing a nice brand of cricket and played some tight series recently where we have come out on top. We want to be smart – play aggressive cricket but you’ve got to be smart with that as well.”
South Africa captain Dean Elgar challenged the England batters to try the aggressive approach against the Proteas’ bowling attack.
“I’ve got absolutely no interest in the style that they’ve played. I think it can go one of two ways for them and it can go south very quickly. I’d like to see them do it against our seamers,” Elgar told The Guardian.
Stokes called out Elgar in his press conference, saying that as a team England just focus on their own game.
“The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking about it at the moment. We don’t really speak about it that much. We just concentrate on what we do,” he said.
“We don’t dive into it too much, but I’m happy for Dean and the South Africa team to say they’re not interested and then keep talking about it.
“We’ve got a style of play, they’ve got a style of play. At the end of the day it’s bat against ball
and whoever plays best over a test match is more than likely to win.”
