Dean Elgar warns South Africa are ‘not here to play soft-natured cricket’

South Africa captain Dean Elgar attempted to end the “mud-slinging” over England’s recent thrilling approach to Test cricket before he backtracked when pondering how ‘Bazball’ would look when it goes wrong.

The three-match series gets under way at Lord’s on Wednesday with further Tests to come at Emirates Old Trafford and Kia Oval.

England will aim to continue their momentum over the next month having won all four home Tests against New Zealand and India earlier this summer thanks to remarkable chases with 378 reeled in at Edgbaston last month.

We are not here to play soft-natured cricket- Dean Elgar

A bold brand of cricket with a positive approach at the forefront of everything has been quickly implemented by new red-ball captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, which saw the term ‘Bazball’ coined, but Elgar has repeatedly poked fun at the philosophy in recent weeks.

He initially looked to cool tensions on the eve of the first Test before the 35-year-old promised the tourists were not here to play soft-natured cricket.

“With all due respect I am really not going to entertain that (Bazball) anymore. We have chatted about it long and hard. I just want to crack on with the cricket,” Elgar said.

“I think the game deserves that respect and mud-slinging is now a thing of the past for me. We are not going to go back and forth any more around that.

“What they (England) did, the conditions were pretty nice to bat in during those specific Tests.

“They did really unique things around that time, those months ago, chasing the scores they did and it was something where I was also blown away with. It was pretty impressive.

“But I would like to think the bowlers we have, even if the wickets are pretty flat, I think we have