https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/08/17/sir-geoffrey-boycott-exclusive-why-guy-cycling-reforming-english/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

Sir Geoffrey Boycott: 'Why is a guy from cycling reforming English cricket?'
The England legend tells the Vaughany & Tuffers CC podcast about the perils of 'Bazball' and why investing in county cricket is crucial

By
Jim White
17 August 2022 • 7:00am
Sir Geoffrey Boycott exclusive: 'Why is a guy from cycling reforming English cricket?'
Sir Geoffrey Boycott has questioned the latest review of English cricket CREDIT: GEOFF PUGH/TELEGRAPH

When it comes to his opinions, Sir Geoffrey Boycott has been going full 'Bazball' long before the term was invented. He may remain unconvinced of the tactical efficacy of the new approach to Test cricket introduced by the England coach Brendon McCullum. But there can be no doubt when he offers up his view on the future of the game there is no playing himself in quietly, a gentle single or two to get his eye in.

As you can hear when he makes a welcome appearance as a guest on Telegraph Sport’s Vaughany & Tuffers CC podcast, at the very mention of the initials like E, C and B, this is Boycott turned Jonny Bairstow, smashing verbal sixes from the off. His ire has been sparked by the new review of cricket led by Sir Andrew Strauss, which has drawn on the expertise of a wide range of sports figures including Sir Dave Brailsford and Sir Clive Woodward.. He is not holding back.

“He’ll know a lot about cricket, will David,” Boycott says, those familiar Yorkshire tones dripping with sarcasm. “And the guy from rugby. How many ex-cricketers is Andrew talking to? Those that played on uncovered pitches and those that played the type of four-day cricket played now? How many of them is he talking to?”

It is a hypothetical question. Boycott, apparently, is not one of those who has been consulted. But if he were to give him a call, Strauss might be advised to hold his phone well away from his eardrums.

“I’d start by saying: 'What is English cricket short of, then?'” Boycott says when asked what advice he would give, in the unlikely event he were ever to be asked. “Do you accept that county cricket is the breeding ground for Test cricket? County cricket should be the breeding ground and it isn’t because England are short of fast bowlers that stay fit and quality spinners.

“There are no top-three batsmen that know how to play the new ball, stay in, create the platform. Part of your job is to get through the new ball for your team - protect the stroke-makers in the middle-order who can take the game away from the opposition. Part of the job is to score runs.”

And he goes on, banging the opinions to all corners. “If you think you are going to plunder the best bowlers in the world with a new conker when they are fresh then you are an idiot,” he says, smoothly dismissing the notion that 'Bazball' will inevitably conquer all.

Sir Geoffrey Boycott is typically forthright on the Vaughany & Tuffers CC podcast
Sir Geoffrey Boycott is typically forthright on the Vaughany & Tuffers CC podcast CREDIT: GEOFF PUGH/TELEGRAPH
Just when you think he might be taking a breather, seeing out a couple of overs to let the dust settle, he is back at it. Wallop. Crash. Smack.

“There are too many ordinary bowlers,” he says of the current English game. “So how do you get county cricket playing the type of cricket that creates more fast bowlers, more spinners and more batsmen who can play the new ball? The only way to do that is the pitches.

“If we keep having early season matches with grass and moisture on the surface where little medium pacers bowl people out, that isn’t going to help England be successful. There are too many ordinary bowlers. A lot of the money they [the ECB] get from Sky is because of Test matches - and county cricket makes good Test players, or it should do.

“It has been failing us, which is why there is a problem. But it should be the breeding ground. There are so many businessmen that get involved and look at it and say ‘it doesn’t make any money’. But they aren’t cricketers [being asked their opinion by the ECB] and I don’t understand Andrew [Strauss, the head of the ECB] not talking to ex-players

Read more at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/08/17/sir-geoffrey-boycott-exclusive-why-guy-cycling-reforming-english/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

rH

On Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 9:31:49 AM UTC+1, anywh...@gmail.com wrote:
> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/08/17/sir-geoffrey-boycott-exclusive-why-guy-cycling-reforming-english/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
>
> Sir Geoffrey Boycott: 'Why is a guy from cycling reforming English cricket?'
> The England legend tells the Vaughany & Tuffers CC podcast about the perils of 'Bazball' and why investing in county cricket is crucial
>
> By
> Jim White
> 17 August 2022 • 7:00am
> Sir Geoffrey Boycott exclusive: 'Why is a guy from cycling reforming English cricket?'
> Sir Geoffrey Boycott has questioned the latest review of English cricket CREDIT: GEOFF PUGH/TELEGRAPH
> His ire has been sparked by the new review of cricket led by Sir Andrew Strauss, which has drawn on the expertise of a wide range of sports figures including Sir Dave Brailsford and Sir Clive Woodward. He is not holding back.

i wondered where vaughan had gone to. If I remember rightly Sir DB got his cyclists to apply for TUEs
which allowed them to take certain medications for asthma etc the side effects of which gave
them an edge over their rivals. I dunno what Sir CW did but it was surely a long time ago. Actually
i didnt hear about CW, I thought it was a chap from the footy premiership whoed been appointed
with DB to a high performance review thing, i didnt think it was about the CC. but this story came
out in May, so its a bit of a delayed reaction.

>
> “I’d start by saying: 'What is English cricket short of, then?'” Boycott says when asked what advice he would give, in the unlikely event he were ever to be asked. “Do you accept that county cricket is the breeding ground for Test cricket? County cricket should be the breeding ground and it isn’t because England are short of fast bowlers that stay fit and quality spinners.

this is probably why they didnt ask him. I know what he means but it didnt come out right.
>
>
> And he goes on, banging the opinions to all corners. “If you think you are going to plunder the best bowlers in the world with a new conker when they are fresh then you are an idiot,” he says, smoothly dismissing the notion that 'Bazball' will inevitably conquer all.

Well we will see at the end of the season. I would have agreed with Boycott on this, but then I thought we
were likely to lose all of the last 4 tests, and i was wrong there. No doubt if they fail vs RSA, and at the
moment they are in a big hole, the armchair critics will say i told you so, and its true that despite those
wins our deficiencies remain the same: our openers are unreliable, and our fast bowlers are still injured.

mike

On Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 6:31:49 PM UTC+10, anywh...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> “He’ll know a lot about cricket, will David,” Boycott says, those familiar Yorkshire tones dripping with sarcasm. “And the guy from rugby. How many ex-cricketers is Andrew talking to? Those that played on uncovered pitches and those that played the type of four-day cricket played now? How many of them is he talking to?”
>
> It is a hypothetical question. Boycott, apparently, is not one of those who has been consulted. But if he were to give him a call, Strauss might be advised to hold his phone well away from his eardrums.
>
> “I’d start by saying: 'What is English cricket short of, then?'” Boycott says when asked what advice he would give, in the unlikely event he were ever to be asked. “Do you accept that county cricket is the breeding ground for Test cricket? County cricket should be the breeding ground and it isn’t because England are short of fast bowlers that stay fit and quality spinners.
>
> “There are no top-three batsmen that know how to play the new ball, stay in, create the platform. Part of your job is to get through the new ball for your team - protect the stroke-makers in the middle-order who can take the game away from the opposition. Part of the job is to score runs.”

Anybody who's heard Boycott in the last 20-30 years will know everything he's going to say, he's almost as predictable as RH
and there's been a few aggressive opening batsmen who've come off rather well over their careers...

>
> And he goes on, banging the opinions to all corners. “If you think you are going to plunder the best bowlers in the world with a new conker when they are fresh then you are an idiot,” he says, smoothly dismissing the notion that 'Bazball' will inevitably conquer all.

Yep, Sehwag was a total failure

> “It has been failing us, which is why there is a problem. But it should be the breeding ground. There are so many businessmen that get involved and look at it and say ‘it doesn’t make any money’. But they aren’t cricketers [being asked their opinion by the ECB] and I don’t understand Andrew [Strauss, the head of the ECB] not talking to ex-players

Andrew Strauss is an ex-player
just because he's talking to people who aren't cricketers doesn't mean that he's not talking to cricketers as well, just not Boycott...

In message <680f74ea-ae83-4566-acca-57d476d87ab8n@googlegroups.com>,
Hamish Laws <hamish.laws@gmail.com> writes
>On Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 6:31:49 PM UTC+10, anywh...@gmail.com wrote:
<snip>
>>
>> And he goes on, banging the opinions to all corners. “If you think
>>you are going to plunder the best bowlers in the world with a new
>>conker when they are fresh then you are an idiot,” he says, smoothly
>>dismissing the notion that 'Bazball' will inevitably conquer all.
>
>Yep, Sehwag was a total failure

To be fair to Boycott, his record might have been a lot worse had he had
to play half his Tests on English pitches. OTOH, Trescothick for example
did pretty well as an attacking opener, even in England.
--
John Hall
"Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

On Wed, 17 Aug 2022 17:41:48 -0700 (PDT), Hamish Laws
<hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:

>Andrew Strauss is an ex-player
>just because he's talking to people who aren't cricketers doesn't mean that he's not talking to cricketers as well, just not Boycott...

And why does Boycott think that talking to people who played on
uncovered pitches would be of any use at all?

It's already well-established that poor pitches hinder the development
of good cricketers. You have to be as stupid as the village idiot to
think that playing on even worse pitches would lead to an improvement.

The alleged attraction of uncovered pitches was that it was possible
for parts of matches to be played on dangerous pitches unfit for f-c
cricket. Were we to return to leaving pitches uncovered, we'd never
get any play at all. Given that umpires won't restart when the
outfield is damp because of the danger to fielders, the chances of
them restarting when bowlers don't have solid run-ups and the ball
will come off the pitch at wholly unpredictable angles are less than
zero. Nowadays, the correct term for "uncovered pitches" is "dangerous
pitches".

We aren't going to return to dangerous pitches, whatever Boycott and
the village idiot think. So what good does it do to talk to people who
used to play on dangerous pitches?

Cheers,

Mike

On Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 10:41:49 AM UTC+10, hamis...@gmail.com wrote:
> > And he goes on, banging the opinions to all corners. “If you think you are going to plunder the best bowlers in the world with a new conker when they are fresh then you are an idiot,” he says, smoothly dismissing the notion that 'Bazball' will inevitably conquer all.
> Yep, Sehwag was a total failure

Mentioning one batsman doesn't really refute the notion that "Bazball will inevitably conquer all". Mainly as I hope no one is taking "all" literally.

We've been playing Test cricket for a long time now. Currently in Test #2474.
There's little doubt in my mind that *generally* speaking the best method of opening the batting is NOT "bazball". It's far better to build an innings.. To "see off the shine".
There will occasionally be exceptions. Like Sehwag.
There also might be times when a team doesn't have much depth, and all they've got is a "tonker" or two (no negative connotation there).
I think England, right not, falls into that category.
I also think if England had a young Mike Atherton available they'd take him in a heartbeat.

On Friday, August 19, 2022 at 7:16:57 AM UTC+10, jack fredricks wrote:
> I think England, right not, falls into that category.
right now*

On Thu, 18 Aug 2022 11:27:36 +0100, Mike Holmans <spam@jackalope.uk>
wrote:

>On Wed, 17 Aug 2022 17:41:48 -0700 (PDT), Hamish Laws
><hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Andrew Strauss is an ex-player
>>just because he's talking to people who aren't cricketers doesn't mean that he's not talking to cricketers as well, just not Boycott...
>
>And why does Boycott think that talking to people who played on
>uncovered pitches would be of any use at all?
>
>It's already well-established that poor pitches hinder the development
>of good cricketers. You have to be as stupid as the village idiot to
>think that playing on even worse pitches would lead to an improvement.
>
>The alleged attraction of uncovered pitches was that it was possible
>for parts of matches to be played on dangerous pitches unfit for f-c
>cricket. Were we to return to leaving pitches uncovered, we'd never
>get any play at all. Given that umpires won't restart when the
>outfield is damp because of the danger to fielders, the chances of
>them restarting when bowlers don't have solid run-ups and the ball
>will come off the pitch at wholly unpredictable angles are less than
>zero. Nowadays, the correct term for "uncovered pitches" is "dangerous
>pitches".
>
>We aren't going to return to dangerous pitches, whatever Boycott and
>the village idiot think. So what good does it do to talk to people who
>used to play on dangerous pitches?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Mike
>

The guy from the cycling and the rugby guy know how to deal with
teams. The T word isn't in Boycott's vocabulary at all, he simply
doesn't understand the concept of a team.

Uncovered pitches at pro level would be like bazball for bowlers, just
as it is sometimes for league cricket on uncovered pitches.

max.it