Legendary England cricketer Geoffery Boycott has called out the current team’s God complex after Ben Stokes and Co were pulled down to earth by Pakistan on turning tracks in Multan and Rawalpindi. Boycott admitted that the team under Stokes and Brendon McCullum has played some entertaining cricket and have been able to bring crowds to watch Test matches, especially at home. However, they all have been on flat tracks and termed their batters’ ability to play spin as ‘pathetic’.
“If they do not learn their lessons, they will not be remembered as a great team,” Boycott wrote in his column for the Telegraph. “Yes, they are entertaining and fantastic to watch because you never know what they are going to do next, good or bad, but Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum want their team to be the best. Unfortunately, they are wasting their opportunity and risk being remembered as flat-track bullies unless they make some adjustments for conditions.”
Boycott said that this England team will first would have to get over the air about themselves that they are changing Test cricket. The 84-year-old mentioned that this feeling of ‘oh we are doing something extraordinary’ makes it seem like they know everything and don’t want to learn but now have been found out on two tours of Asia consecutively against India and Pakistan.
“It was annoying to hear the England players saying after the Pakistan series defeat: “That’s how we as a group play.”
“It gives the impression that they think they know it all and have nothing to learn. Our youngsters seem to think they invented the wheel, do not want to change and that we oldies do not know anything about Test match cricket,” Boycott added.
Boycott gave the example of Harry Brook, who smashed a record 317 in the opening Test but could only muster 56 runs in the next four innings while driving the home his point that spinning tracks demand more than just being ability to attack. He admitted that at least Joe Root and Ben Duckett had some sort of a plan but the others looked like fish out of water.
“I would use it to describe England as they are flat-track bullies on good batting pitches. They are great to watch as they pummel the opposition bowlers into submission and have earned the title of Bazballers, but spinning pitches demand adjustments.
“Playing on dry, crumbling pitches is the opposite from batting on flat pitches where there is no movement and batsmen can hit through the line and take chances to be inventive and outrageous.
“Some of our guys have learned nothing. High-risk strokes are not smart. Trying safer shots would bring a better rate of success than trying to be clever,” he added.
England don’t play another Test in Asia till early 2027, however, now have three tough assignments back-to-back, away tours of New Zealand later this year, the Ashes in Australia next year and a home series against India in June-July. England have lost their third straight chance to qualify for a home WTC final and will need some solid plans in the next cycle to be able to finish in the top two.