England’s brainless Bazballers are just flat-track bullies: Geoffrey Boycott

England’s brainless Bazballers are just flat-track bullies: Geoffrey Boycott

Former cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has called out England’s approach against quality spin. The Ben Stokes-led side recently suffered a 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan, which raised doubts about their ability to tackle spinners in the sub-continent. They struggled against India as well earlier in the year, losing the series 4-1. 

Boycott believes that the England team has not learned from their mistakes and are committing the same errors time and again. He also advised the players to prepare themselves for all kinds of surfaces and not just become “flat-track bullies”. The 84-year-old added that England wasted a great opportunity because failed to adjust to the conditions, leading to a series defeat against Pakistan for the first time since 2015.

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“If you want to be rated a great batsman, you must have a rounded game and score runs on all types of pitches. And if you want to have a legacy as a great team then you have to be able to win on all surfaces. They are wasting their opportunity and risk being remembered as flat-track bullies unless they make some adjustments for conditions,” Boycott wrote in his column for the Telegraph.

Patience and concentration are the most important traits on turning pitches: Boycott

Boycott highlighted that whenever the ball grips, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and captain Stokes struggle with the bat. He advised the players to deal with the spinners with patience and to noted that losing in concentration would end up losing them their wicket.

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“As soon as the ball grips Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Stokes are all at sea. They go at the ball with hard hands and there are gaps between bat and pad. If they are not smashing boundaries they lose patience – and patience and concentration are the most important traits on turning pitches,” Boycott said.