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Thoughts on Geoffrey Boycott?

G

gazzarooney

Cricket Spectator
Dazinho said:
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.
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You disrespectful f**k. A complete legend and a straight talking man.
 
Y

Yeoman

U19 Captain
Ali TT said:
Boycott's attitude unfortunately became something of a prevailing one in the English game. Better to not score runs than get out to anything remotely risky or flamboyant. Stonewalling became seen by some in the commentariat and fanbase as the key attribute of a first class cricketer, while fast scoring and the limited over formats were just "not cricket".
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This view long precedes Boycott, though he could take it to extremes.
 
ImpatientLime

ImpatientLime

International Regular
kevinw said:
I bet Boycott would say he never saw any racism at Yorkshire.
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i don't think he commented publicly on the scandal and if he did apologies i have missed it, but george dobell said on twitter that boycott had actually been highly supportive of rafiq during the whole affair.
 
nick-o

nick-o

State 12th Man
So I read Sir Geoffrey has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia days after cancer surgery (having previously had chemo and radiation therapies) at what must now be quite an advanced age. This doesn't sound so good.

Hope he pulls through -- he was a real boys own hero type when I was a littl'un
 
N

Northerner

School Boy/Girl Captain
A very very good opening test match batsmen, who knows how many more centuries and runs he would have scored if he hadnt missed a few years because of the issues with Mike Denness, a straight talking guy and a bit blunt at times which upset some folks, talked to him a couple of times and always seemed ok to me. too many people judge him that do not know him,
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Dazinho said:
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.
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You could check out his innings in the 4th test in the WI in 1968 after Sobers' generous declaration. Relative to the times, he batted pretty aggressively on that occasion.

And I think there were one or two innings in the 1979/80 triangular series in Australia. Again, his scoring rate would have been rapid enough relative to the times.


At the other end of the scale, you may want to check out the time when Botham had to run him out because England were trying to score quickly to set up a declaration in the 2nd test in NZ in 1977/78.
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
A short list of batsmen who hit fewer Test boundaries than Geoff Boycott (779 in 108 tests)

Garry Sobers (758 in 93)
Adam Gilchrist (777 in 96)
Ian Botham (668 in 104)
Jonny Bairstow (775 in 100)

I think the modern idea of Boycott as someone whose batting used to empty stadiums is a bit of a revisionism, probably informed by his commentary as much as anything else. The guy wasn't Chris Tavare or Bruce Edgar. He didn't help himself with being very one-paced when the team needed other things but that pace was generally that of a proper world class player for the time, and I think he would have been good enough to adapt to other eras as well.
 
CartyDurham

CartyDurham

International Captain
Howe_zat said:
A short list of batsmen who hit fewer Test boundaries than Geoff Boycott (779 in 108 tests)

Garry Sobers (758 in 93)
Adam Gilchrist (777 in 96)
Ian Botham (668 in 104)
Jonny Bairstow (775 in 100)

I think the modern idea of Boycott as someone whose batting used to empty stadiums is a bit of a revisionism, probably informed by his commentary as much as anything else. The guy wasn't Chris Tavare or Bruce Edgar. He didn't help himself with being very one-paced when the team needed other things but that pace was generally that of a proper world class player for the time, and I think he would have been good enough to adapt to other eras as well.
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This is enlightening . Surprising as well
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
Howe_zat said:
A short list of batsmen who hit fewer Test boundaries than Geoff Boycott (779 in 108 tests)

Garry Sobers (758 in 93)
Adam Gilchrist (777 in 96)
Ian Botham (668 in 104)
Jonny Bairstow (775 in 100)

I think the modern idea of Boycott as someone whose batting used to empty stadiums is a bit of a revisionism, probably informed by his commentary as much as anything else. The guy wasn't Chris Tavare or Bruce Edgar. He didn't help himself with being very one-paced when the team needed other things but that pace was generally that of a proper world class player for the time, and I think he would have been good enough to adapt to other eras as well.
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Cool story, but the listed batsmen all played fewer tests than he did, so it shouldn't be that surprising that they hit less boundaries, no?

Also, it's exclusively lower middle order allrounders/wicket keeper batsmen, so they'll have less time at the crease for that reason as well.
 
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wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
shortpitched713 said:
Cool story, but the listed batsmen all played fewer tests than he did, so it shouldn't be that surprising that they hit less boundaries, no?
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Only up to a point. I'm too lazy to do the calculations, but their figures for boundaries per test wouldn't be so very different.
 
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trundler

trundler

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Boycott's strike rate is closer to Tavare than any of those blokes. Besides, a block-bash player is arguably worse than someone who has a low strike rate but is better at rotating the strike. Less chances of getting stuck at one end and pressure being built up as a result.
 
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