Zak Crawley is one of the batsmen who has been struggling to showcase consistency. Following his repetitive failure, Boycott questioned his place in the playing XI and said he had learned nothing in the 57 Test matches
Geoffrey Boycott. File pic
Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott feels that England should stop giving their wickets on stupid over-aggressive shots and urged them to move on from the 'Bazball' ideology.
In his column in the Daily Telegraph, Boycott wrote, "Stop giving your wicket away to stupid over-aggressive shots because you can do better and England want more from you".
He also added that recently, head coach Brendon McCullum said that England don't talk about Bazball.
"The coach, Brendon McCullum, is on record recently saying that England don’t talk about Bazball and need to fine-tune their approach to batting. So no excuses any more,” he said.
Zak Crawley is one of the batsmen who has been struggling to showcase consistency. Following his repetitive failure, Boycott questioned his place in the playing XI and said he had learned nothing in the 57 Test matches.
“How many more chances is Crawley going to get? He has learned nothing in his 57 Tests. A waft in the first innings caught behind and a front-foot drive in the second innings to a wide sucker ball caught at gully. It was just a replay of too many of his dismissals. Time to go. Five hundreds and an average of 31 is not good enough,” said the 84-year-old.
Ollie Pope also found himself among the players being criticised by the former batsman.
“His problem is when he first goes in he is hyperactive, fidgety, like a cat on a hot tin roof. Pope starts like a millionaire, a shot a ball, as if he already has a hundred to his name,” Boycott observed.
“Early on the captain and coach sold Bazball to all the players and Ollie seems to have bought into it 100 per cent and is so keen to show he is a disciple. Perhaps he feels he must play positive and aggressively or he won’t keep his place,” he said.
The veteran of 108 Test matches urged Pope to take inspiration from England's incumbent stalwart Joe Root by saying he does his own thing and is the best batsman in the world.
“He needs to go back to basic batting, which is to assess the situation and bat accordingly, not bat slavishly to an ideology or how he thinks the captain and coach want him to play. Take a look at Joe Root. Joe does his own thing and makes runs, and he is the best batsman in the world,” said Boycott, who scored 8114 runs for England in the longest format of the game.
(With IANS Inputs)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
