Before the series began, South Africa captain Dean Elgar was highly critical of the new aggressive and positive brand of Test match cricket England had been playing under the new captain and coach combination of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Elgar claimed the style of play, which has been dubbed 'Bazball', has no "longevity", could "go south very quickly" and challenged England to "do it against our seamers". Then, after South Africa lost a warm-up match by an innings and 56 runs to an England Lions side that racked up 672 at a run rate of 5.74, Elgar said he was "not going to entertain that phrase anymore" while head coach Mark Boucher joked "if you mention 'Bazball' you've got to have a tequila".
And while England's new method fell flat in the first Test at Lord's as they slumped to an innings defeat, they roared back at Old Trafford to draw level before emphatically winning the series at the Oval in the shortest completed Test match in England since 1912.
However, despite England winning the last two Tests inside three days and Zak Crawley guiding England to victory in the decider with an unbeaten 69 off 57 balls, Elgar once again refused to entertain the idea of 'Bazball', claiming he "didn't see that B-word coming through at all" in England's performances.
"I said I am not speaking about that," Elgar said when asked about England's approach. "I actually thought they played relatively good Test cricket.
"I don't think they played extraordinary cricket. I thought they played the correct tempo. I didn't see that B-word coming through at all."
Boucher, meanwhile, when asked if South Africa should be asked to play in a similar manner to England replied: "We give the guys freedom to play, to express themselves, each and every guy. The way that England go out and play, you need to have the characters to do that first of all – a lot of their guys are one-day and white-ball cricketers as well.
"I think you have to, in these conditions, trust your defence. And we haven't been able to keep out their good balls, and that has been an issue.
"It's one thing to just say go out and play with freedom, but there are consequences when guys are fighting for their Test spot and careers. So as much as a coach can say to you, 'Go out and play with freedom within your blueprints, we want you to play a nice attacking brand of cricket', [but] it's up to the individual and character that comes with it… [if he] trusts his defence and really goes out and tries to dominate an attack."
