LONDON: South Africa captain Dean Elgar says he does not fear “Bazball” as the Proteas seek to inflict England’s first Test defeat of their swashbuckling new era under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

After a dismal run of just one victory in 17 Tests, England have won four from four under new skipper Stokes and coach McCullum heading into their series opener against South Africa at Lord’s on Wednesday.

That includes a 3-0 series win over world champions New Zealand, with England hunting down challenging targets on each occasion.

Stokes’s men then made light of a seemingly stiff target of 378 in the Covid-delayed fifth Test against India at Edgbaston, romping to victory by seven wickets.

“Bazball” — a reference to McCullum’s nickname — has revitalised England’s red-ball fortunes at a time of renewed debate about the future of the five-day game.

But there are questions over whether the ultra-aggressive approach can work in all circumstances, particularly against a strong South Africa pace attack.

“I’ve got absolutely no interest in the style that they’ve played,” Elgar told the Guardian. “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.”

Stokes, on the other hand, hoped his team would retain their “venom” by the start of the series. Shrugging off Elgar’s claims, the England skipper said the die had been cast and they will not waiver from their plans.

“The opposition seem to be doing a lot of the talking at the moment about it,” Stokes told reporters on Tuesday. “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 and whoever plays best over a Test match is most likely to win.

“For me, it’s just about reiterating the points that we were making at the start of the summer our mindset, attitude and everything like that about how we go out and play our cricket.”

Both teams appear to be stronger in bowling rather than batting although, with resilient opener Elgar leading from the front, the Proteas have won seven out of nine Tests under his captaincy, while the form of Keegan Petersen has helped compensate for the red-ball retirement of gifted shot-maker Quinton de Kock.

England will hope in-form batsmen Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow maintain their eye-catching form of earlier in the season.

South Africa spearhead bowler Kagiso Rabada is doubtful for the first game of the three-Test series with an ankle injury.

“I’m hoping that he pulls through,” said Proteas coach Mark Boucher.

“Rabada is a massive player for us as we all know so for him to be part of the final XI would be very special for us.”

Boucher said his men were relishing their chance to write their names into Lord’s folklore.

“Just watching the players’ reaction walking into Lord’s, there’s a lot of passion and emotions are running high in a good way,” he said.

Most of the England Test squad have been playing white ball formats since their last victory over India in early July and Stokes hoped they would quickly slip back into gear in the longer format.

“It has felt like we’ve been a really long time away from each other obviously there has been a lot of different cricket, different formats played so there is a real excitement for me to get back in there, see everybody, and reminding everybody about what we’ve achieved and sticking to our guns,” he said.

Stokes confirmed wicket-keeper Ben Foakes will return to the starting XI in the only change from the side that defeated India. He missed that Test with concussion.

England XI: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wkt), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson.

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar, Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Khaya Zondo.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2022