England play a dangerous game in South Africa by revealing tactics

At the first test in South Africa, which starts tomorrow on the road, it seems England’s plan is to hold their tail and maintain precision in the center against noisy orders.

Of course, that was the direction head coach Brendon McCallum had given the England Lions team, and the team followed orders and continued to facilitate South Africa alongside Ben Stokes in a winning tackle at Canterbury.

Most cricket teams do not broadcast their tactics to their opponents. This is also the case in England. As Muhammad Ali might have said to his opponent, “I’ll knock you out fifth. No need to correct.”

England are showing that a bat and a bat await them by revealing their intentions to South Africa, the team currently top of the World Cup Test table. This is the psychology of anticipation, hoping that five wins in the last seven Tests will force opponents to reconsider their plans.

Most impressive was the Lions’ attack on South African left-hander Keshab Maharaj, who scored nearly eight runs. Maharaj has been instrumental in his recent success, not only taking 20 wickets in the last three Tests, but also averaging 20 overs per innings at a cost of just 2.41 runs.

This low pace and number of overs allowed the main threat, the South African pace throwers, to stay fresh and perform more effectively. But now, with British batsmen embracing the hyper-aggressive buzzball, it is questionable whether Maharajji can be expected to do so.

This makes them question whether they can afford to risk their most experienced fast shooter, Kagiso Labada, due to recent ankle problems.

As you can see, if Maharaj strikes and Labada struggles to get a part due to an ankle, the rest of the players will be under immense game-changing pressure. All of this must be considered before throwing the ball. South Africa are also considering whether to continue with Plan A, which has led to their recent victories, or aggressively seek to alter England’s current pattern of success.

Relying on a daring four-run run, England easily beat New Zealand and India earlier this summer. You can create a situation by asking the host to strike first if you win the match.

Such tricks are dangerous if they are not justified by the green grass on the field. With the hot, dry weather these days, hitting conditions can be great early on, and opponents using the lane for the first time can end up disastrous.
However, the audacity and daring of England Test cricket under Stokes and McCallum shattered cricket orthodoxy and turned the truth of Test play on its head.

One such fact is that the batsman wins the test match, but the bowler wins. South Africa’s recent successes are of course based on their strong bowling attack, which they believe is strong and diverse enough to undermine England’s attacking approach.

In good form, the pace trio of Labada, Henrik Noltier and Lungi Nugidi can support left-arm all-rounder Marco Jansen and match anyone in cricket on the day. So the Lions were left with all the stress tests after Maharaj last week.

Another interesting aspect of the Lions performance was how exciting the Middle Order was against precise seam bowling with Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton taking 11 wickets. Neither Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Lassie van der Dusen nor South Africa’s 3, 4 or 5 have averaged more than 36 in Test cricket and the tour team’s left-handed captain Dean Elgar put pressure on Sarell Irvine.

Both Overton and Robinson, fitted at the back and with a clean cut, are included in the trial team, but they will not replace James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts or Jack Leach. We could play later in the series when we find out if “baseball” is a goalie or one of those exciting moments when fantasy and reality really collide.

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