All posts tagged: geoff boycott

“The Saddest Thing…”: England Great Geoffrey Boycott Tears Apart Bazball After Pakistan Series Defeat

“The Saddest Thing…”: England Great Geoffrey Boycott Tears Apart Bazball After Pakistan Series Defeat

Published by Webster

File image of Brendon McCullum (centre).© AFP Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has slammed the England cricket team batters, labelling them “flat track bullies”, as they slumped to a 2-1 series defeat against Pakistan. After winning the first Test in Multan, England lost the second and third Test, exposing a glaring weakness against spin bowling. All 40 English wickets across the second and third Tests were taken by spinners, with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali combining for a total of 39 wickets. Boycott sharply criticised the England batting, and the aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach of batting implemented by coach Brendon McCullum. “England are flat-track bullies on good batting pitches… spinning pitches demand adjustments,” wrote Boycott, writing in his column for The Telegraph UK. Boycott pointed out the example of Harry Brook to emphasise his point. After slamming a stunning triple hundred in the first Test, Brook’s form nosedived miserably. “A perfect example is Brook. He scored a brilliant 317 in the first Test and in the next four innings he was naive with no …

England Legend Delivers Brutal Verdict On Bazball

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Team England in action© AFP England will aim to end the five-match series against India on a high as the fifth match is slated to be played from March 7 in Dharamshala. The Rohit Sharma and co gained an unassailable lead 3-1 lead after registering a thumping five-wicket victory in the fourth Test in Ranchi. Chasing 192, India lost some five wickets with 120 runs on the board but the unbeaten partnership between Shubman Gill (52*) and Dhruv Jurel (39*) took the hosts across the line. Ahead of the fifth Test, former England opener Geoffrey Boycott picked up an “error” made by Ben Stokes during India’s chase in the fourth match. “I like Stokes’s captaincy but I thought he made a big error by opening the bowling with two spinners, Root and Tom Hartley. Stokes was thinking that a harder new ball would bounce more and a raised seam would create more spin,” Geoffrey wrote in his column for The Telegraph. “The problem is that unless you are experienced at bowling spin with a new ball …

“Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum Besotted With…”: England Great Geoffrey Boycott Blasts ‘Bazball’

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The high-flying ‘Bazball’ was brought down to the ground by the Indian cricket team as Rohit Sharma‘s men secured a 106-run triumph against England in the second Test of the 5-match series in Vizag. Chasing a target of 399 runs in the second innings, England hit self-destruct as many batters departed while trying to score runs quickly. The lack of patience in batters saw wickets falling at regular intervals, prompting criticism from one of England’s greatest players ever, Geoffrey Boycott. In his column for The Telegraph, Boycott slammed the ‘Bazball’ approach, suggesting there’s no glory in defeat. “Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are besotted with attack, attack, attack. It’s as if they say ‘if we can’t win, we will go down in glorious failure instead.’ But there is no glory in failure or defeat,” Boycott wrote. “Bazball is great entertainment when it comes off. But once you believe in an ideal over substance, then you have lost the plot. Today England gave the match away. Bazball was a failure.” Giving the example of …

‘Rohit Sharma Past His Best, India Badly Miss…”: England Great’s Bombastic Verdict

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Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott feels India skipper Rohit Sharma is “past his prime” and the hosts badly missed the peerless Virat Kohli in the series opener against England in Hyderabad Despite enjoying a strong position after the first innings, India lost by 28 runs against England in the first Test to trail 0-1 in the five-match series. In the absence of Kohli, the onus was on Rohit to shoulder the responsibility in the batting department but he could only manage 24 and 39 in two innings as the Indian batting crumbled big time while chasing 231 on a fourth day pitch. And Boycott believes it is a golden chance for England to beat India in their own backyard after 12 years. “This India team are ripe for the taking and England have a golden chance to be the first side to topple them on their own patch for 12 years,” Boycott wrote in his column for ‘The Daily Telegraph’. “India badly miss Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja has a hamstring injury and …