"An Off-Game For Us": Ben Stokes After England's Defeat In 1st Test vs South Africa

England captain Ben Stokes insisted he was "absolutely fine" with his side's "off-game" after a humiliating innings and 12-run defeat in the first Test against South Africa at Lord's. The hosts were comprehensively outplayed as the Proteas won inside three days, with this reverse England's first loss under their new red-ball leadership duo of skipper Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum following a run of four successive wins.

It was only England's fourth innings defeat in 128 years of Test matches at Lord's and the first since a South Africa team led by Graeme Smith enjoyed a similar thumping in 2003.

"It was an off-game for us, and that's absolutely fine," said Stokes.

"It's not something I'm going to be throwing our toys out of the pram over."

England were already in dire straits when they started their second innings before lunch on Friday, with the hosts 161 runs behind after South Africa had made 326 in reply to their meagre first-innings 165.

They then collapsed to 149 all out before tea in a match where England batted for just 82.4 overs across both their innings.

It was all a far cry from the dynamic run-scoring that had seen England chase down several high totals this season including 378 to beat India at Edgbaston last month.

On Friday, in stark contrast, opener Alex Lees and tailender Stuart Broad shared a joint top-score of 35 in England's woeful second innings.

- 'No baggage' -

Stokes, however, said it was vital England did not over-react.

"The message from me and Baz (McCullum) upstairs will be, did we commit to everything the way we committed to the first four Tests of the summer?

"If everyone can say 'yes, 100 percent, we just didn't execute' then things are good. We'll move on to the next Test match, and