England Certainly The Favourites, But It\'s Too Risky To Underestimate The Proteas: Hussain

England is certainly among the top teams however it’s risky to overestimate England. Proteas: Hussain

London 15th August : Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that England’s Test team is the favourites in the home three-match series with South Africa but Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum must be aware of the South Africans’ practice of “unseating England captains in the not too distant past”.
Dean Elgar’s team will face Stokes-led England in the first Test at Lord’s starting on August 17 and England enter the series as the favorites since they just swept clean the series of three Tests against New Zealand and defeated India in the fifth Test, which was rescheduled at Edgbaston.

 England Certainly The Favourites, But It's Too Risky To Underestimate The Protea-TeluguStop.com

“When England take the field against South Africa at Lord’s on Wednesday, their primary goal is to build on the momentum that was built up in four stunning victories over New Zealand and India.I think they will win the match but it’s not going to be simple,” opined Hussain in his column in the Daily Mail.

“South Africa is the best of the World Test Championship, and continue to produce results under the shrewd direction of Dean Elgar.Recently they came back from behind to defeat India in their home stadium.They’ve been known to make the habit of defeating England captains in the not too long ago and, while I’m certainly not saying they’ll repeat the feat for Ben Stokes this summer, Stokes will be aware that his team is up against challenges, especially South African bowlers.South African bowlers,” Husain added.

Hussain said that the shift of attitude in the England team, which saw them have overcome their losses in the past two seasons to score four incredible Test wins, was “outstanding” However, he added the cautionary note of caution as the hosts too had small victories in the games.

“The shift in attitude that was triggered by Stokes and Brendon McCullum has been awe-inspiring but England have had a few small victories this summer.

New Zealand were ahead in all three Tests, and required a massive partnership with Jonny Bairstow as well as Jamie Overton to get England out of danger at Headingley,” said Hussain.

He said that while their attacking and positive approach of play, referred to as “Bazball” was fantastic however, they may need to be playing with care when the ball is moving little.

“They also know that there will be occasions where they must take on the situation that the ball is nipping around, keep those big shots in the locker for a few minutes.Be positive and do not throw the ball away.

This is probably more relevant to Zak Crawley than any other player in the team.He should take a seat and take a look at replays of the second game against India where he hit 46 and sat the ball in good shape at the beginning.His main problem was the speedy drive early on when he’s not yet able to get the speed of the ball however on this occasion he took his time.”

Crawley has been criticized for losing his wicket at the top often, and putting players who follow Crawley under pressure.

“Crawley must be smart” and once his game is in, he can show the world his strokeplay.His Edgbaston performance (vs India) should be the model for him.It’s going be a major game for him.Another England batter who could need to adjust things could be (Ben) Stokes himself.

“I believe He’s trying to show the team what he can do by hitting with the utmost of aggression.However, he’s a far superior player, and is too important to the chances of England of producing big scores consistently to be snared at mid-off and scoring 25.He’s a smart cricketer and he knows that his primary goal right now is to establish the mood for the entire team.However, there will come the moment that he determines that scoring hundreds could create a positive impression.I’m sure he will reach that point,” added Hussain.

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