Can South Africa stop the ‘Bazball’ juggernaut?
SOME of South Africa’s favourite words start with B. ‘Bazball’ is not among them. England’s frenetic batting under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum is, for the South Africans, nothing more than that: England’s approach to batting as designed by their new captain and coach.
But, considering the number of questions the visitors have been asked about ‘Bazball’ since they arrived in England, you would have thought it was all their idea. Even Stokes got it wrong at a press conference yesterday: “The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking at the moment about it. 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. We don’t dive into it too much, but we’re happy for Dean (Elgar) and the South African team to keep saying they’re not interested but then also keep talking about it. So, yeah …”
Closer to the truth is that the South Africans wouldn’t have to keep talking about ‘Bazball’ if they weren’t asked about it endlessly. Consequently, Elgar could hardly be faulted for running out of patience on the topic. “With all due respect I’m not going to entertain that anymore,” he told a press conference yesterday.
“We’ve chatted about it long and hard. I just want to crack on with the cricket. The game deserves that respect. Mud-slinging is a thing of the past for me. We’re not going to go back and forth anymore about that.”
So, what else is there to talk about ahead of the start of the Test series at Lord’s today? For one thing, whether England will pull off a fifth consecutive win in the format under the new regime! For another, whether South Africa will chalk up a fifth consecutive series without defeat under Elgar! For still another, whether the change in London’s weather from stinking hot, which it has been for weeks on end, to grey and soggy on the eve of the match will change much in terms of tactics and team composition!
The latter isn’t a significant consideration for the home side with Jack Leach the only specialist spinner in their squad. But the likelihood of South Africa deploying both Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer – a serious possibility on sun-baked late summer pitches – would seem to be receding.
Another question is: how South Africa’s lack of experience of the conditions – in their dressing room only Elgar, Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada have played Tests in England before – will stand up to the scrutiny they are sure to face from perhaps the most aggressive team in the game? But Elgar’s team know plenty about dealing with pressure, having recovered from defeats to draw in New Zealand in February and beat India at home in March.
As always before the start of a series, and particularly a rubber involving opponents who last met in these conditions four years ago, there are more questions than answers. In the choice words of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”
Nothing has yet happened in this Test series. But that doesn’t mean the wheels are not in motion. Far from it! Yesterday’s rain put itself in the way of the teams’ final preparations and seems set to delay or interrupt, or both, proceedings today.
Happily, one rainy day, if indeed it pans out that way, does not a dull series make. Many other opportunities will present themselves at Lord’s, Old Trafford and the Oval to answer all sorts of questions – not least whether cricketers and ‘Bazballers’ belong on the same field playing the same game for the same audience. A hot summer is about to get hotter still. (Cricbuzz)
