Lord’s Test: Elgar warns England ‘I didn’t come here to play second fiddle’

The
Proteas
have
won
three
and
drawn
one
of
their
past
four
series
in
the
longest
format,
including
a
2-1
victory
over
India.

South
Africa
are
also
sitting
pretty
at
the
top
of
the
World
Test
Championship
table
and
are
third
in
the
rankings
ahead
of
an
opening
match
against
Ben
Stokes’ side
that
starts
at
Lord’s
on
Wednesday.

England
have
enjoyed
a
dream
start
to
a
new
era
with
Stokes
as
captain
and
Brendon
McCullum
head
coach,
whitewashing
New
Zealand
3-0
and
beating
India
in
a
rearranged
Test
to
draw
the
series
2-2.

Yet
visiting
captain
Elgar
is
backing
the
tourists
to
maintain
the
momentum
and
bring
England
back
down
to
earth.

The
opening
batter
said:
“I
don’t
play
to
lose.
I
absolutely
despise
losing.
And
if
we
play
an
average
brand
[of
cricket],
or
we’re
not
putting
our
best
foot
forward,
and
we
don’t
have
results
going
our
way,
then
that
affects
me
quite
a
bit.

“This
is
a
massive
series
for
all
of
us.
I
think
we’ve
got
17
players
and
it’s
massive
for
all
17
of
us
to
go
out
there,
play
a
brand
of
cricket
that
appeals
to
South
Africans
and
ultimately
gives
us
the
best
chance
of
winning
in
England.
We’ve
seen
it
happen
in
the
past
before,
so
we
know
it
can
be
done.”

Elgar
says
South
Africa
will
not
cross
the
line
with
the
verbals,
but
expects
words
to
be
exchanged
in
the
middle.

“In
the
heat
of
battle,
there’s
always
something
that
comes
out,”
he
said.
“Let’s
put
it
that
way.
I
just
want
to
play
three
really,
really
hard
Test
matches
and
go
out
there
and
put
the
badge
on
the
line
and
throw
a
bit
more
respect
into
the
badge.”

He
added:
“We
played
against
the
best
in
the
world
last
year
[India,
who
were
top
of
the
rankings
at
the
time],
and
I
think
we
did
things
that
we
didn’t
quite
expect
to
do
at
that
time.

“So
the
standard
that
we’ve
set
and
the
bar
that
we’ve
raised
since
last
year
has
happened
pretty
naturally
just
out
of
us
doing
good
things
on
the
field
again.

“It’s
gonna
be
a
tough
series,
no
doubt.
They
are
a
proud
cricketing
nation
and
I
respect
that.
But
I
know
they
are
definitely
beatable.
I
didn’t
come
here
to
play
second
fiddle.
I
came
here
to
win
a
series.”