Billings: You’d be pretty stupid to ignore 'Bazball’
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England will host South Africa in a three-Test series before facing nemesis Australia in the Ashes in 2023. The rise of 'Bazball,' a new method including an all-out attack, has made waves, but South Africa captain Dean Elgar isn't impressed with England's daring style of cricket.
Elgar had said that 'Bazball' has no 'longevity' and England could have 'come away with egg on their faces' in the Test series against New Zealand.
"The new England style is quite interesting. But I don't see that there's longevity in brave cricket because I see things evening out over time in Test cricket," said the South Africa skipper in an interview with Wisden Cricket Monthly.
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However, wicket-keeper batter Sam Billings has responded to the South African captain's remark on 'Bazball', saying it would be 'pretty stupid' on the touring side to overlook the approach.
“We’ve (England Lions) beaten an international team over four days by an innings in a manner of scoring 5.74 an over. You’d be pretty stupid to ignore that, if I’m honest. If that’s not a wake-up call… because we’re not even the best XI," Billings, who hit 92 for England Lions in the warm-up game against South Africa, was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.
“So, it’s up to them, really, but I think that’s laid out a pretty strong statement in the way we want the cricket to be played, but also being able to execute it and having the players to do that was really impressive," Billings added.
England's new swashbuckling approach in the red-ball format was named after coach Brendon McCullum, who made an immediate impact with Ben Stokes as the captain.
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