Ben Stokes promised England would not back down from their attacking approach against South Africa after rival captain Dean Elgar questioned the team's 'Bazball' tactics.
New England skipper Stokes has enjoyed four consecutive victories in the long format since taking over leadership duties from Joe Root, with three coming against New Zealand and one against India.
Now three Tests against South Africa await, with the first beginning at Lord's on Wednesday before further assignments at Old Trafford and The Oval.
Proteas skipper Elgar told Wisden Cricket Monthly he did not see "longevity in brave cricket", suggesting England could easily have been left "with egg on their faces" against New Zealand.
"Look, the opposition seem to be doing a lot of the talking about it at the moment," Stokes said on Tuesday.
"We don't really speak about it that much, we just concentrate on what we do. We've got a style of play, they've got a style of play, and at the end of the day it's bat against ball and whoever plays best over a Test match is more than likely to win."
England's approach has been nicknamed 'Bazball' because the lusty hitting of Jonny Bairstow has been so integral to the success. For each win in the current run, England have pulled off impressive fourth-innings chases, going almost gung-ho at times. Stokes and new head coach Brendon McCullum have encouraged the positivity.
Stokes hopes the England team "hasn't lost its venom", given it has been six weeks since the last Test, with record wicket-taker James Anderson turning 40 in the meantime.
Asked for how long Anderson might play on, Stokes said: "He's still 20 in my eyes, so 60 maybe, who knows."
With a hint of mischief in his eyes, Stokes responded to a question of whether he might also play on in Tests until the age of 40 by saying: "I'd absolutely love to."
Anderson's long-time pace partner Stuart Broad is one shy of becoming the second bowler to take 100 Test wickets at Lord's, with Anderson's 116 leading the way.
Elgar was not inclined to return to the topic of 'Bazball', saying: "Mudslinging is a thing of the past for me, and we're not going to go back and forth any more about that."
England chase four in a row against South Africa
England have won each of their last three multi-game men's Test series against South Africa, so they will hope Stokes' strong start as leader continues over the coming weeks. Root made 190 and Moeen Ali took 10 wickets in the match when England crushed South Africa by 211 runs at Lord's in July 2017, ending a six-match winless run (D2, L4) in games against the Proteas at the London ground.
Elgar looks to pace to pummel England
South Africa are unbeaten in four series (W3, D1) since a 2-0 defeat to Pakistan in February last year, so they are not lacking in confidence. Elgar is prepared for moments of England dominance and says South Africa can ride that out.
He said: "I know somewhere they're going to have periods in the game where they're going to be on top of us, no doubt, and we're going to have to find a way to adapt to that situation. I'd like to think from a bowling point of view, our bowlers are big, tall, fast and strong. We want it hard, we want it really tough, and hopefully the results go our way."
Titans edge IPL season opener as Gaikwad's knock proves fruitless
Ruturaj Gaikwad's stunning knock was not enough as Chennai Super Kings suffered a five-wicket loss to reigning Indian Premier League champions Gujarat Titans in Friday's thrilling season opener.
Gaikwad scored 92 from 50 balls at Narendra Modi Stadium, tallying up the third-highest score in an IPL season opener, after Brendon McCullum's 158 in 2008 and Rohit Sharma's 98 in 2015.
The Super Kings reached 178-7 from their 20 overs, with captain MS Dhoni hitting an unbeaten 14 from seven balls in the closing stages of their innings.
Titans debutant Kane Williamson suffered a knee injury while fielding and was unable to bat, but Gujarat made a strong start, reaching 37 from the first 23 deliveries before Wriddhiman Saha succumbed to Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3-36).
Shubman Gill (63) expertly anchored the innings, though Chennai looked well placed to push on for victory when Tushar Deshpande dismissed the opener in the 15th over, following on from Sai Sudharsan and Hardik Pandya losing their wickets.
Their chances of victory looked greater still when the dangerous Vijay Shankar (27 from 21) was brilliantly caught out by Mitchell Santner, leaving the Titans requiring 30 from 18 balls.
Yet an expensive over from Deepak Chahar saw Rashid Khan add 10 runs in the space of two deliveries, and similar slackness from Hangargekar enabled Rahul Tewatia to seal victory.
Gaikwad and Gill the stars of the show
Gaikwad's exceptional 92 came at a strike rate of 184. His knock included nine sixes, with a further four shots hitting the rope.
Gill, though, provided the steady pair of hands needed to help push the Titans to victory. His 63 came at a S/R of 175, the second-highest in IPL history (minimum 25 runs).
Ton up for Shami
It was the Super Kings' death bowling that let them down, and they will rue an opportunity missed to claim their first win over the Titans.
The champions' bowlers did not perform brilliantly either, but Mohammed Shami's 2-29 saw him move onto 101 IPL wickets. He is the 15th Indian and 19th bowler overall to reach that milestone.
The Numbers Game: Dortmund out to end Munich misery as Bayern boss Tuchel crosses divide
German football's biggest game will take on extra significance this weekend when Bayern Munich host Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena.
Dortmund have mounted a serious challenge to Bayern's sustained Bundesliga dominance this season and lead the defending champions by a point.
Bayern's inability to take control of the title race led to them surprisingly parting ways with Julian Nagelsmann on March 24.
His replacement, a man who has the other side of this storied rivalry, Thomas Tuchel, who was BVB coach from 2015 to 2017.
Tuchel's Dortmund overcame Bayern en route to DFB-Pokal glory in 2017, but the former Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea boss is now immediately under tremendous pressure to deliver victory for Die Roten.
For Dortmund, a win in Bavaria could go a long way to helping Edin Terzic's men seal the title.
But history is firmly against them doing that. With the help of Opta numbers, Stats Perform previews a potential title decider.
Dortmund's Munich misery
Dortmund's 2-2 draw with Bayern in the reverse fixture ended a run of eight consecutive defeats in competitive matches against them.
But the Allianz Arena has become a house of horrors for BVB. Indeed, Dortmund have lost their last eight away games against Bayern in the league.
In Dortmund's Bundesliga history, they have only had one longer losing streak away from home: versus Werder Bremen from 1979 to 1989 (10 matches).
Good omens for BVB
By their lofty standards, Bayern have struggled mightily in 2023.
They have won only five of their 10 Bundesliga games in 2023 (D3 L2) and have 52 points after 25 games.
That is their lowest at this stage of the season since 2011-12, when they had 51 points. The season ended with Dortmund winning the title, Bayern have not failed to do so since.
Since this campaign resumed, Dortmund have claimed a league-high 22 points in eight games. That is a club record for BVB after eight games in the second half of the season. The last time they collected as many points at this stage was the 2011-12 title-winning season under Jurgen Klopp.
The omens are good for Dortmund as they look to end Bayern's reign, but they will need to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time they were top of the Bundesliga in the second half of the season.
Table toppers in trouble?
Dortmund are top of the table for the first time since the second matchday of the 2019-20 season.
Prior to this campaign, they had not been at the summit in the second half of the season since matchday 27 in 2018-19, which saw them thrashed 5-0 by Bayern at the Allianz Arena.
Simply put, Dortmund cannot afford the same outcome this time around if they are to maintain their push to dethrone Bayern.
Bavuma powers South Africa to victory to keep World Cup hopes alive
South Africa boosted their chances of making the World Cup as captain Temba Bavuma's unbeaten 90 gave them a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Netherlands.
Needing to win both matches against the Dutch and hope Ireland lose at least one of their three matches against Bangladesh in May in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup, which will be held in India later this year, the Proteas eased to victory on Friday.
This ODI was the second of a three-match series that was supposed to take place in late 2021, but was postponed because of concerns over a COVID-19 variant. The first match ended with no result.
The importance of the match was reflected in the strong squad chosen by South Africa, with Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada included despite their imminent IPL commitments.
Nortje played a key role in restricting the Netherlands to 189 all out despite scores of 45 and 48 from Vikramijit Singh and Teja Nidamanuru respectively, taking 2/24 off his eight overs while Sisanda Magala and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up three wickets each.
It was the Netherlands' second-highest ODI score against South Africa, but the Proteas cruised to the winning total regardless as Bavuma's sublime innings (90 not out from 79 balls) helped them to victory.
Aiden Markram chipped in with a half-century off just 37 balls, though it was his captain who finished the job as Bavuma smashed the ball back past bowler Ryan Klein for four to seal the win.
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