The last month has been punctuated by various members of the Proteas talking down England’s new, attacking approach to Test cricket ahead of the upcoming men’s three-match series which begins at Lord’s on Wednesday. While all in isolation across various media engagements, it has created a sense the tourists are finding talk of a “revolutionary” approach a little grating. Speaking to Wisden Cricket Monthly, Elgar stated he saw no “longevity in brave cricket” and said England could have had “egg on their faces” in the opening Test match against New Zealand.
Elgar is certainly not alone in that view, and no doubt the tourists are itching to skewer a bubble that has been swelling off the back of four victories against New Zealand (three) and India. So far, no one associated with this England Test squad has engaged in those comments publicly, and it is also worth noting “Bazball” is not a term used internally. Even the man after whom it is named isn’t a fan.
Speaking on Tuesday, Stokes said neither he nor his team are paying too much attention to the noise emanating from the dressing room down the corridor.
“The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking at the moment about it,” Stokes said. “We don’t really speak about it that much. We just concentrate on what we do. 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; whoever plays best over a Test match is more than likely to win. But we don’t dive into it too much, but we’re happy for Dean and the South African team to keep saying they’re not interested, but then also keep talking about it.”
Elgar, for his part, insisted on the eve of the Test that he had said all that needed to be said about England’s perceived style of play. “With all due respect, I am really not going to entertain that anymore,” he added. “We’ve chatted about it long and hard. I just want to crack on with the cricket. I think the game deserves that respect. Mudslinging is a thing of the past for me and we are not going to go back and forth on that.”
“I think, for me, it was just reiterating the points of what we were making at the start of the summer, about our mindset, attitude and everything like that, about how we go out and play our cricket,” Stokes said, when asked of his work beyond the nets. “Personally I feel as if it’s one of those things that’s the most important at the moment for this team, is believing in what we speak in the changing room and going out there and trying to deliver on what we say. Because the results will look after themselves.
“If we play to the standard that we have done over the last four Test matches, we know we are going to give ourselves a great opportunity of winning the game. If you don’t play good cricket, then you’re going to lose the game. For us it’s just going out there and continuing with the attitude and the mindset you’ve seen from the first four games of the summer.”