If our players start to think that results don’t matter then they might as well join a circus: Geoffrey Boycott

Geoffrey Boycott. (Photo Source: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has come hard at the England team for their abysmal performances at the ICC events over the years. After winning the T20 World Cup 2022, they bowed out of the World Cup 2023 in the league stages. They were hoping to defend the T20 World Cup trophy in West Indies but their bad phase continued seeing them out of the tournament in the league stages again.

Boycott while talking about the team’s performance, also criticized how the team has dented the authenticity of Test cricket by introducing ‘Bazball’. For the unversed, England revolutionized the fearsome and high-risk Test cricket that has bore results and the team succumbed to India 4-1 playing the same form of cricketer during their subcontinent tour.

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“All we have had over the last few months is the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean, where England performed poorly, the Indian Premier League, which helped a few of our moderate to average Test players get rich, and before that a miserable 4-1 Test series loss in India where England started well, but in the end were hammered,” Boycott wrote in his column in Telegraph.

“In India last winter, ego and hubris got the better of some of our players. They came out with comments about being entertainers and how it was important to score quickly and thrill the crowds. All that is laudable but they should never lose sight that there is a winner and a loser and losing isn’t much fun,” he added.

Test match cricket is not an exhibition: Boycott

England have been criticized by many after coach Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes has been consistent in backing the Bazball gameplay. They have won the bilateral series’ though but have not been able to claim the Ashes back. Moreover, their 1-4 loss to India led the critics to raise many fingers toward the new gameplay.

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“Test match cricket is not an exhibition. If our players start to think that results don’t matter then they might as well join a circus or go around the world like the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team doing tricks, laughing and joking, and not bothering who wins so long as everyone has a fun time,” Boycott added.