‘Go be a professional circus around the world’ – Geoffrey Boycott deprecates England’s adherence to ‘Bazball’

Geoffrey Boycott and Ben Stokes. (Photo Source: Twitter)

England’s popular Bazball approach has been criticised heavily by Geoffrey Boycott as he is of the opinion that if pleasing spectators is the primary objective of the hosts and not winning games, they might as well be a circus.

Since adopting their new and aggressive brand of playing under Brendon McCullum, their red-ball head coach and skipper Ben Stokes, England have enjoyed great success so far. The loss at Edgbaston was the Three Lions’ third defeat in the last 14 games, and have won 11.

Stokes‘ choice to declare on the first day at 393 raised a few eyebrows, but England have decided to stick to their strategy in the games to come. Despite finishing at the losing end, Stokes and others have stated that they want to continue the Bazball way.

According to Ollie Robinson’s Wisden column, McCullum told the players after the game at Edgbaston that he believed they had won because they put Australia on the back foot and enthralled the spectators.

Boycott, who launched a vehement attack on the Bazball approach, didn’t like it at all. The England veteran said that he did enjoy the game, but he believes that England have lost sight of their primary goal, which is to win, on Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast, as reported by Fox Cricket.

Boycott argued that England had stopped thinking because they had gotten ahead of themselves and that if all they cared about was pleasing their supporters, they might as well be a circus.

“I liked the cricket; it had you on the edge of your seat. England was winning every session, but they lost the game, and that should teach them something going into the next Test. They failed to remember that their primary goal was to win, after that, if you want to amuse the crowd, go ahead,” Boycott stated.

“But why can’t you entertain the crowd while winning?

“You stop thinking when you get ahead of yourself, and that’s what England did.”

“I know what the answer will be if you ask people in England if they want to be entertained and lose the Ashes or do they want to win the Ashes?”