South Africa Test skipper Dean Elgar has said he is aware of the threat posed by England's innovative strategy in the longest format that goes by the term “Bazball” but made it clear that he is not too concerned about it.
Ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes assumed the roles of the head coach and captain, respectively, England have been in terrific form. Under them, the English team has played 4 Tests at home and won all of them while chasing down a target of more than 250 in all of them.
Speaking ahead of the first Test of the three-match series, which will be played from August 17 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, Elgar shared his thoughts on England's new approach.
“Good for them. They’ve obviously taken a few risks along the way and it’s paid off. I think conditions had a massive role to play with regards to that kind of style of cricket. I’m not too concerned about the way they’ve gone about their things of late,” he told South Africa news publication Daily Maverick.
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According to him, the "Bazball" approach has become a topic of discussion around the world, but the Proteas will be focusing on their own strengths and weaknesses.
“It’s been an interesting style and caused a few conversations around the world around the way they’ve been playing [but] I’m not too concerned about that,” he restated.
“It’s not our intention to start slowly but it’s my job and responsibility to make the players aware of our shortfalls that we’ve had in the past. I’ve made them aware that starting slow against tough opposition away from home is clearly not the game plan going forward,” he added further.
The 35-year-old acknowledged that his team has a tendency to start slowly in a series, but with two warm-up games against England Lions prior to the first Test and several conversations with the players, he is optimistic the trend won't hold.
“I know how important it is to start well against a tough side in their home conditions. The conversations are ongoing and as long as I’m here those conversations won’t stop. I need to make those players aware of that, the coaches have made the players aware of that again,” he said.
“Starting slow is not an option because playing catch-up cricket is not easy in Test cricket. We might get away with that maybe at home where we know the conditions a lot better, but when you’re touring you can’t start slowly. I’m very much mindful and aware of that,” Elgar concluded.
(DAILY MAVERICK INPUTS)
