South Africa haven’t given it a reputation: Mark Boucher performs down England’s ‘Bazball’ strategy forward of Lord’s Test

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has performed down the specter of England’s ‘Bazball’, saying the guests have not even given a reputation to the much-talked-about strategy of the hosts to play Test cricket. Boucher stated South Africa are certain of adapting to situations and never permitting England to grab the momentum and run away with it when the 2 sides meet within the first of a 3-Test collection in Lord’s, London on Wednesday, August 17.

England, below new captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, have taken the aggressive route in Test cricket that has introduced them wealthy rewards. After having struggled to sew wins below Joe Root’s captaincy, Ben Stokes’s males are threatening to develop into world beaters within the longest format of the sport.

If early indicators are something to go by, England are slowly however steadily turning into a formidable Test aspect. Stokes’s period started with a 3-0 drubbing of world Test champions New Zealand at dwelling and a convincing victory over India in a rescheduled Test in Birmingham in July. England have proven a fearless strategy, particularly in terms of chasing massive totals within the fourth innings, managing profitable chases of 250-plus on 4 successive events. Notably, England gunned down a 378-run goal in opposition to India in Birmingham.

“No, I don’t think we’ve given it a name. I know that they’ve given a name over here, but we believe that we’ve been playing our brand of cricket. We’ve had some tight series where we’ve come out on top of late and nothing sort of changes for us. We’ve got our processes that we all go through in order to try to get the results going our way,” Boucher informed the press on the eve of the Lord’s Test.

“I’ve always said that we like to be nice and smart. We want to play aggressive cricket, but you’ve got to be smart with regards to that as well. And nothing will change for us. You know, I know this is an England with South Africa series and there’s always a lot of hype in the media.

“There are loads of issues that get stated. The backside line is that this recreation is between bat and ball and you have to make sensible selections at sure instances of the sport. And, you already know, we’re centered on on attempting to do this from our aspect and England will most likely do the identical. They’ve acquired their model that they need to play, which is ideal. We simply have gotten to attempt to match it on the day and attempt to discover methods to negate that.”

South Africa are heading into the series on the backing of a fine run in Tests in 2022. After beating India at home, South Africa drew a series against New Zealand 1-1, before hammering Bangladesh 2-0 at home.

Boucher’s comments come days after Dean Elgar, the South Africa captain, played down England’s Bazball approach, saying it will be interesting to see if the hosts can maintain the intensity against the Proteas pacers.

Earlier on Thursday, Ben Stokes hit back at Elgar, saying it’s the visitors who have spoken the most about Bazball in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test.

“The opposition appear to be doing loads of the speaking in the mean time about it. We simply think about what we do,” Stokes said on Tuesday.

“We’ve acquired a method of play, they have a method of play. At the top of the day, it is bat in opposition to ball and whoever performs greatest over a Test match is more than likely to win,” he added.

WILL RABADA PLAY?

Furthermore, Mark Boucher gave an update on Kagiso Rabada’s availability, saying the lead pacer is likely to be fit for the series opener.

The fast bowler missed the Proteas’ final T20 against England due to an ankle injury and was not risked during the four-day warm-up match against the England Lions at Canterbury last week.

“I hope (he shall be match). He’s come on effectively I believe,” Boucher stated.

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