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“The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking”: Ben Stokes reacts on Dean Elgar downplaying England’s ‘Bazball’ approach ahead of Lord’s Test

Gurpreet Singh
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"The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking": Ben Stokes reacts on Dean Elgar downplaying England's 'Bazball' approach ahead of Lord's Test

Ben Stokes reacts on Dean Elgar nearly dismissing England’s new approach towards playing Tests as they face South Africa tomorrow.

After a riveting T20I series last month, South African team has arrived at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground to take on England in a three-match Test series, the first of which commences tomorrow.

Ahead of the high-octane clash, which is also part of the ongoing cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), the battle of words have already began, with the popular term ‘Bazball’ again being the topic of interest.

England’s new approach towards playing Test matches under the new captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has become the new talk in the Cricketing fraternity, more so after the same helped England triumph in four consecutive Tests against New Zealand and India, as they successfully chased down targets in excess of 275 runs each time.

Ahead of the first Test, the Proteas skipper’s comments on ‘Bazball’ has made way for a mini battle of sorts, with Ben Stokes reacting on same during the presser today.

ALSO READ: What does the term ‘Bazball’ mean?

Ben Stokes reacts on Dean Elgar downplaying Bazball

‘I’ve got absolutely no interest in the style that they’ve played,” remarked Dean Elgar upon being asked to comment on England’s ‘Bazball’ approach towards Test Cricket.

The Southpaw opener then went on to add that he would like the England batters to carry on with the same approach against his side’s seam bowling attack.

“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,” he further exclaimed.

Reacting on Elgar’s aforementioned comments, Stokes, while addressing the members of the press later in the day, subtly advised the ‘opposition’ to focus more on the on-field play, while reiterating that his team will play the way which has brought them success so far.

“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,” exclaimed the England Test skipper.

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh

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Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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