Elgar not overly concerned by England’s ‘Bazball’ approach

Johannesburg – Proteas skipper Dean Elgar casually brushed off concerns about confronting England’s new uber aggressive style of play Test cricket.

Nicknamed “Bazball” in honour of the Test side’s new coach, Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, England have successfully chased down totals of over 270 in the fourth innings of each of their last four Tests, thrilling the public in that country and generating talk of a revolution.

“Good for them,” Elgar remarked Monday, ahead of the Proteas’s four-day tour match against an England Lions side that starts Tuesday in Canterbury. “It’s an interesting style that’s caused a few conversations around the world, around how they have been playing, but I’m not too concerned.

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— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) August 8, 2022

“Conditions had a massive role to play with regard to that style of cricket, I’m not too concerned with how they have gone about things of late, for me, the biggest thing is to focus on my squad.”

The Proteas feel they have the options within their squad to counter this revolution. A bit like the T20 side that recently defeated England and Ireland, the selectors do appear spoilt for choice.

“The options are brilliant,” said the Proteas’ Test skipper. “Having guys play County cricket and having them do pretty well is a massive asset going into this Test series. They know the conditions and they can give us feedback on how the ball’s been reacting.”

Gauteng Lions left-hander Ryan Rickelton has performed superbly for Northamptonshire scoring 539 runs at an average of 77, making two centuries and four fifties in his eight innings for the County, while Simon Harmer, with 46 wickets for Essex, is the joint second highest wicket taker in division one of the County Championship.

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In addition, Rassie van der Dussen, who made a century in the first ODI and Aiden Markram, who batted well in the T20 Internationals, have also joined the Test squad with their confidence high.

“It's refreshing having them come in, because they’ve done pretty well in the last month. We have a lot of options, resources and info to help us prepare for the series.”

The Proteas Test squad held a camp in Canterbury last week, hoping that along with the four-day match against the talented Lions outfit which features players with Test experience like, Keaton Jennings, Sam BIlling, Ollie Robinson, Dan Lawrence and Dom Sibley, they’ll be able to avoid making the kind of slow starts that left them needing to come from behind in series against India and New Zealand last season.

“We’ve had some specialist guys in Canterbury, for a few days before the white ball guys joined us. It’s been about preparation, giving the guys options so that they are prepared physically and mentally for what will be a really tough series.”

That camp also allowed Kagiso Rabada to begin increasing his bowling loads, although Elgar did sound worried about the fast bowler being ready for the first Test at Lord’s that starts on August 17.

“He has bowled since we started the camp in Canterbury. The workload is the biggest concern, as to whether he can carry himself throughout a Test match. I can’t say yes or no yet about whether he’ll be ready, but we’ve got a week before the first Test,” said Elgar.

SQUADS

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

England Lions: Sam Billings (capt), Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Sam Conners, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Craig Overton, Liam Patterson-White, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley

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