Ashes Heroes No 32: Geoffrey Boycott

Last week's Ashes Hero was a stylish and classy Australian batsman, loved by many. This week's isn't. But as the man himself might say, he were bloody effective nonetheless.

As the joke went, if you wanted someone to bat for your life then you'd go for a Waugh, a Lara, a Tendulkar or someone similar. But if you wanted someone to bat for their own life, it would be Geoff Boycott every time. Boycott could appear selfish and stubborn, but there were few who sold their wicket more dearly.

Don Bradman batted on the principle that if he didn't hit the ball in the air, he couldn't be caught, which explains why he hit so few sixes. Boycott's principle was that if he blocked every ball, then he would never be dismissed. And he would certainly never be run out, not while there was another end for him to head for. It frustrated his team-mates - Graham Gooch recalls playing an early Test with Boycott and being called for a dangerous run with the command "sacrifice, Graham" - but Boycott honestly believed that as long as he remained at the crease that would be in the best interests of the team. And the statistics back him up: in 108 Tests, Boycott was on the losing side only 20 times and they were generally matches when he had played poorly. Whenever he scored a century, England never lost.

Boycott's principles were sometimes costly. This is a man who was happy to sit out sulking like Achilles for 30 Tests at the prime of his career because England had chosen Mike Denness as captain over him. He was once dropped after making 246* against India because it was a perfect batting wicket and he had taken ten hours in doing so. His tendency to lecture rather than listen and to get up modern players' noses has meant that England have never been able to harness his skills as a coach.

Yorkshiremen are known for priding themselves on having it tough as children, but Boycott did have it pretty tough. When he was eight, he was larking about and fell, managing to puncture his chest on iron spikes. The accident was almost fatal and Boycott lost his spleen while he was in hospital. Two years later, his father, a coalminer, had a serious accident down the pit that damaged his spine. To help to pay the bills, Boycott left school at 17 to become an accounts clerk but his heart was in cricket. For his eleventh birthday present, the family had had a whip-round and bought him a place on a winter coaching course and he spent all his spare time with a bat in his hand.

He was a talented club cricketer, but it wasn't until 1962, when he was 21, rather later than most on this list, that he made his first-class debut. Boycott's determination and work ethic were immediately apparent. He would have four nets sessions a day, practising with the Yorkshire Schoolboys in the morning, the colts and senior sides in the afternoon and then joining his club in Leeds for evening nets.

He made his first hundred against Lancashire in June 1963 and handed in his notice to the pensions office at the end of the season, even though his county were advising caution. In a year in which he made almost 1,800 first-class runs, Boycott was named Young Cricketer of the Year and started to get notice from the England selectors. A year later he made his Test debut, against Australia at Trent Bridge, and was England's top-scorer with 48, which coincidentally would be his final Test average 18 years later.

Boycott didn't bat in the second innings of the drawn Test because of a cracked finger - a potential nightmare for a debutant keen to impress - but he recovered in time for the third Test and made his first fifty in the fourth. A maiden hundred came in the second innings of the drawn fifth Test at the Oval but Australia won the series 1-0. He was named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year.

His next Ashes was the 1965-66 series. Dogged by illness, Boycott nonetheless made 45 and 63* in the drawn first Test and had another fifty in the second Test. In the third, he shared in a stand of 234 for the first wicket with Bob Barber, although Boycott's contribution was only 84, over which he took 234 balls. Nonetheless, every side needs a grinder and England won that Test to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The late 1960s weren't particularly happy for Boycott. His father died, his injured spleen was causing him discomfort and he had decided to swap from spectacles to contact lenses. But by 1970 he was back to top form. On that winter's Ashes tour, he averaged 96 in all tour games and scored hundreds in the fourth and sixth Tests as well as making five other fifties to help England to regain the Ashes. The second of those hundreds was almost inevitable as Boycott had been run out in the first innings of that match and, stunned, refused at first to leave the ground. He was guided off with boos ringing in his ears, which surely made Boycott more determined than ever in the second innings.

As mentioned above, Boycott spent three years out of the team after Ray Illingworth was succeeded by Denness as captain, but by the 1977 Ashes, with Mike Brearley in charge, Boycott was happy to return to the fray for the third Test at Trent Bridge. Naturally, he began by running out a team-mate, Derek Randall on his home turf, then went on to make a hundred. This was followed by 80 not out in England's successful second-innings run-chase. Boycott thus became the first Englishman to bat on all five days of a Test.

He followed it with something even more special. That hundred at Trent Bridge was his 98th first-class hundred and by reaching three figures in his next county match, Boycott put himself in a position to score his 100th hundred against Australia in a Test match at Headingley, his home ground. Who wrote his scripts? By the time England's innings had ended, Boycott was the last man out, having almost carried his bat and made 191 runs in the process (in ten and a half hours). It set up an innings win, yet even in his moment of greatest triumph Boycott showed his bloody-mindedness. When he hit the runs that brought up his hundred, there was a pitch invasion (left) during which someone swiped Boycott's cap. Anyone else would have called for a new one, but Boycott sat down on the wicket and refused to continue his innings until the cap was returned. It was.

There were a few more highlights in his career. Against Australia in 1979, he became the first opening batsman to be left stranded on 99 as he mounted a one-man rescue act to save the Test. He made 62 and 128 in the one-off Test against Australia in 1980 and in the 1981 Ashes he made a hundred in the final Test, although Ian Botham had already won the series by then. As ever, Boycott was obsessed by his place in history and, having passed Colin Cowdrey's England run-scoring record in 1981, he kept on playing for another series until he had passed Garry Sobers's world record.

That achieved, the selfishness could kick in again. He said he was too tired to field for England against India, but went to play golf instead. Shortly after, he signed up for the rebel tour to South Africa. It was an ignominious way for a great career to end, yet Boycott would go on to enjoy more fame, and a new generation of people who loved him or hated him, as a forthright commentator. His catchphrase was to claim that his grandmother could have played a ball better than whichever England cricketer had just been dismissed. If Mrs Boycott had half her grandson's cussedness and determination, she probably could.

Comments

[growltiger]

Hope you remember to include John Edrich in this list. Better record against Australia than Boycott (and no sulks).

[sidney, ny]

Arlott once likened Boycott and his ilk (K. Fletcher comes to mind) to plumbers, efficient at times, but not many people would want to watch them at work.

[Marek]

But he was so boring to watch!

Statistics (and all that Yorkshireness) do not replace style and excitement.

When I was a youngster Colin Milburn seemed immeasurably better.

[Robt P.]

Memorably described by a would-be Aussie politician, during a Test series down under, as:
"Boycott does for Test cricket what the Boston Strangler did for door-to-door salesmen"

[Pack Rat]

He was my cricketing hero when I was a kid. It had nothing to do with the niceties of selfishness and run-outs, I was just happier to see England win.

[SouthernWaratah]

Australian get one cap and only a second at their 100th test...

[michael mcniffe]

unlike a lot of sportsmen,mr boycott was always willing to sign autographs. i remember seeing him score his 150th first class century at aklam park which drew another standing ovation from all spectators.not everyone likes the wham bam approach, give me test and county cricket any day

[SouthernWaratah]

Crikey! Its taken me 2 days to read this article! How Ironic!

[Patrick Kidd]

Those seem to be points of interpretation rather than accuracy, Fordy. I'm fairly certain that in addition to Mrs Boycott's pinny-wearing fielding skills, her batsmanship has also been commended by him many times over the years.

You are entitled to think that there is only one true source for the things you disagree with, but I'm sticking with my assertion that Boycott said "sacrifice, Graham" to Graham Gooch when going for a run. I was told it by Gooch himself.

Players get more than one England cap - often one per tour. But I agree that it was important it be returned.

[Fordy]

Oh dear....inaccuracies from an anti-Boycott writer.

Firstly the supposed "joke" about batting to save his own life is a twist on a Botham after-dinner story where he stated that despite his dislike for Boycott, he would choose him to bat for his life.

The sacrifice comment is more after-dinner folklore - he is known to have said it once to Martin Moxon in a Tilcon Trophy match at Harrogate, yet everybody claims it was said to them.

Very few cricket people disagreed that Denness' appointment was a huge mistake - so much so that Boycott and Greig had an agreement to drop themselves in protest, with Boycott being the only honourable one out of the two to do so. Of couse, Greig got the captaincy soon after Denness failed, which kept Boycott out of England for longer than he should have been.

Regarding his England cap being returned, you are only issued with one cap and the Headingley Tannoy appealed for it to be returned - he did not "sit down" waiting for it. The pitch invasion was 10 minutes, the cap incident was three.

The spleen has been mentioned elswhere.

His grandmother catchphrase was that she could have caught a ball in her pinny - not she could have played a ball better.

Please, objective reviewers for serious articles - not after dinner attendees.......

[jonathon]

his stats speak for him with so many records under his belt he is a legend in cricket i just wish we had someone like him playing foe england now

[Patrick Kidd]

Peter, fair point. Came from two different sources. Maybe his spleen was largely removed but what was left was giving him gyp? Good spot.

[Jimmy Haigh]

Boycs? One of the greats. My Dad was a Yorkshireman and had the same character as Boycs: called a spade a spade.

[George]

This may interest you...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/274761/thread/1228749278/last-1228770282/Ashes+heroes%2C+Boycott

[George]

A very unbalanced review...almost nasty in its tone. Geoffrey Boycott and his many supporters deserved better than this one-sided piece.

[Peter]

If he " lost his spleen " in hospital , how come it was it was " causing him discomfort " later !? Sorry to nit pick !

[TigerBoy]

England hardly ever lost whenever Boycott played.