Hiya - I've seen a few documentaries, read a couple of books about Geoffrey and perhaps the polite term would be to state that he polarised opinion.
He's associated with a particular style of 'old school batting' that was hardly fun to watch and not always the most popular with former team mates and people associated with teams he played for. There are also one or two 'personal episodes' in his life that will cause some to dislike the man. Understood.
Something I remember seeing though was that the young Boycott had a sort of 'breakout innings' in a one day final in the 1960s where, after a slow start akin to that you might associate him with, he proceeded to smash the ball to old parts en route to a match-winning 146 not out (or something like that). I've noticed that there's not a huge amount of footage of him batting on Youtube etc...which might be to do with his style, but from what I've seen it's clear that Geoffrey had all the shots if he wanted to use them. You don't have the success in the sport that he did without tremendous ability.
So...a couple of questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on if poss. Thanks in advance.
1) are there any really 'fun' Boycott knocks to watch that might cause a re-appraisal of him as a batsman? He struck me as someone who played how he played, regardless of the match situation - but said match situation may call for quick runs, playing some shots etc. And he had all the shots to do so, no question.
2) given that ability is there any particular reason why Geoff went about his work in the particular style he did? I often think with more defence-minded batsmen that it's a case of mental toughness triumphing over perhaps having slightly less, albeit some, natural talent (Atherton and Cook would be the modern analogies, certainly in terms of English batsmen). Am I over-stating Geoff's ability here?
Bit of a random thread but not seen much about him on here so thought I'd ask the question. Thanks.
He's associated with a particular style of 'old school batting' that was hardly fun to watch and not always the most popular with former team mates and people associated with teams he played for. There are also one or two 'personal episodes' in his life that will cause some to dislike the man. Understood.
Something I remember seeing though was that the young Boycott had a sort of 'breakout innings' in a one day final in the 1960s where, after a slow start akin to that you might associate him with, he proceeded to smash the ball to old parts en route to a match-winning 146 not out (or something like that). I've noticed that there's not a huge amount of footage of him batting on Youtube etc...which might be to do with his style, but from what I've seen it's clear that Geoffrey had all the shots if he wanted to use them. You don't have the success in the sport that he did without tremendous ability.
So...a couple of questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on if poss. Thanks in advance.
1) are there any really 'fun' Boycott knocks to watch that might cause a re-appraisal of him as a batsman? He struck me as someone who played how he played, regardless of the match situation - but said match situation may call for quick runs, playing some shots etc. And he had all the shots to do so, no question.
2) given that ability is there any particular reason why Geoff went about his work in the particular style he did? I often think with more defence-minded batsmen that it's a case of mental toughness triumphing over perhaps having slightly less, albeit some, natural talent (Atherton and Cook would be the modern analogies, certainly in terms of English batsmen). Am I over-stating Geoff's ability here?
Bit of a random thread but not seen much about him on here so thought I'd ask the question. Thanks.
