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Arise, Sir Geoffrey Boycott

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Junaids

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I felt an enormous pang of pride today when I learned that "Sir Geoffrey" has finally been knighted. It rights a terrible wrong.

Boycott in the words of Ian Wooldridge, "walks alone" as the greatest England batsman. His game was based upon Steve Smith-like practice combined with a perfect defensive technique and incredible powers of concentration and stubborness.

Boycott was a self-absorbed, selfish man until cancer struck him low. He was a terrible partner and father and team-mate, yet in his sixties he was redeemed and turned into a kind, considerate father and husband to his long-suffering on-off partner Rachael.

His relentness self-absorption tore apart Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the 1980's. He made the appalling decision half a decade earlier to go to Apartheid South Africa at the age of 40 for a final bumper payday. One of the funniest moments in cricket history was when, in a brief period as England's accidental cricket captain, he put his own average ahead of acceleration before a declaration at Wellington which led to Ian Botham running him out on purpose.

And yet in spite of that, Boycott is a figure who evokes passionate support from people as diverse as ex-Prime Minister Theresa May (who just knighted him) and myself, a Lancashire fan.

Boycott's hundredth hundred, on his home ground Headingley in 1977, is viewed by all of us who had the privilege to watch it as the greatest moment in cricket history over the last 50 years.

Boycott had exited Test cricket in his early thirties as the extreme pace of Lillee and Thomson and then Roberts and Holding emerged. (All four were recorded in the 1975-76 Perth Test bowling in the 150's). People said that Boycott and his Kiwi counterpart Glenn Turner were cowards who were scared of humiliation.

We have all seen these last three weeks that no cricket on earth is as intense as Ashes cricket. Yet Boycott returned a few months before his 37th birthday against an express attack including both Thomson and Lennie Pascoe, both of whom were far quicker than any current bowler.

The rest is history - Boycott made his hundredth hundred in front of his adoring public and his 191 set up an innings victory.

For many years a dubious conviction for assault in France looked like costing Boycott the knighthood he so richly deserves. What wouldn't I give to have Boycott instead of Buttler or Roy in this Test team?

Today is a day to celebrate. To celebrate a flawed man who was a great defensive batsman, who matured and grew into the greatest cricket analyst that the press and TV and radio have had in the modern age.
 
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Boycott's hundredth hundred - and the real variety, made the hard way against slip cordons with a red ball.

 
Junaids said:
I felt an enormous pang of pride today when I learned that "Sir Geoffrey" has finally been knighted. It rights a terrible wrong.

Boycott in the words of Ian Wooldridge, "walks alone" as the greatest England batsman. His game was based upon Steve Smith-like practice combined with a perfect defensive technique and incredible powers of concentration and stubborness.

Boycott was a self-absorbed, selfish man until cancer struck him low. He was a terrible partner and father and team-mate, yet in his sixties he was redeemed and turned into a kind, considerate father and husband to his long-suffering on-off partner Rachael.

His relentness self-absorption tore apart Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the 1980's. He made the appalling decision half a decade earlier to go to Apartheid South Africa at the age of 40 for a final bumper payday. One of the funniest moments in cricket history was when, in a brief period as England's accidental cricket captain, he put his own average ahead of acceleration before a declaration at Wellington which led to Ian Botham running him out on purpose.

And yet in spite of that, Boycott is a figure who evokes passionate support from people as diverse as ex-Prime Minister Theresa May (who just knighted him) and myself, a Lancashire fan.

Boycott's hundredth hundred, on his home ground Headingley in 1977, is viewed by all of us who had the privilege to watch it as the greatest moment in cricket history over the last 50 years.

Boycott had exited Test cricket in his early thirties as the extreme pace of Lillee and Thomson and then Roberts and Holding emerged. (All four were recorded in the 1975-76 Perth Test bowling in the 150's). People said that Boycott and his Kiwi counterpart Glenn Turner were cowards who were scared of humiliation.

We have all seen these last three weeks that no cricket on earth is as intense as Ashes cricket. Yet Boycott returned a few months before his 37th birthday against an express attack including both Thomson and Lennie Pascoe, both of whom were far quicker than any current bowler.

The rest is history - Boycott made his hundredth hundred in front of his adoring public and his 191 set up an innings victory.

For many years a dubious conviction for assault in France looked like costing Boycott the knighthood he so richly deserves. What wouldn't I give to have Boycott instead of Buttler or Roy in this Test team?

Today is a day to celebrate. To celebrate a flawed man who was a great defensive batsman, who matured and grew into the greatest cricket analyst that the press and TV and radio have had in the modern age.
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Boycott to Roy:Rubbish,my mum would have played better than you.
 
2017's majestic BBC Radio Test Match Special wind-up of Boycott, advising him that his hundredth hundred had been re-located from Headingley to Pakistan!

 
At last.

Boycott is one of the most controversial characters in English cricket history. He has his staunch admirers and critics in equal measure. He won many friends but also many enemies even in his own county, including Yorkshire icons like Fred Trueman.

In some ways, parallels can be drawn to Sunil Gavaskar. Their self-absorbed nature and extreme stubborness was an asset as an opening batsman looking to protect their wicket like a bird protects its flock. How England could do do with an opener like him now ! But these characteristics are less endearing as human beings hence many fallouts in a stormy career.

It's as a commentator however Boycott has achieved unexpected fame. Always forthright and honest, an excellent analyst of batting techniques, he has inspired a whole vocabulary of Boycottisms (my mother could've batted better than that, stick of rhubarb, roo-bish etc).

From a Pakistan perspective, Boycott defended the team from ball tampering allegations in 1992 and 2006. He famously quipped that "Wasim and Waqar could bowl England out with oranges", and that Derek Pringle who at the time admitted to ball tampering wasn't given the same media attention because "A) He's white, B) He's Essex, and C) He's not very good !"
 
Great! Big fan and always have of Sir Geoffrey and even as a great cricket commentator. Straight honest to the point like it or lump it.
 
Congratulations Geoff and also massive well done to Sir Andrew Strauss.
 
I forgot to mention, when Sir Geoffrey retired he held the World Record for Most Test Runs.
 
Markhor said:
At last.

Boycott is one of the most controversial characters in English cricket history. He has his staunch admirers and critics in equal measure. He won many friends but also many enemies even in his own county, including Yorkshire icons like Fred Trueman.

In some ways, parallels can be drawn to Sunil Gavaskar. Their self-absorbed nature and extreme stubborness was an asset as an opening batsman looking to protect their wicket like a bird protects its flock. How England could do do with an opener like him now ! But these characteristics are less endearing as human beings hence many fallouts in a stormy career.

It's as a commentator however Boycott has achieved unexpected fame. Always forthright and honest, an excellent analyst of batting techniques, he has inspired a whole vocabulary of Boycottisms (my mother could've batted better than that, stick of rhubarb, roo-bish etc).

From a Pakistan perspective, Boycott defended the team from ball tampering allegations in 1992 and 2006. He famously quipped that "Wasim and Waqar could bowl England out with oranges", and that Derek Pringle who at the time admitted to ball tampering wasn't given the same media attention because "A) He's white, B) He's Essex, and C) He's not very good !"
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Always had a soft spot for Pakistan, maybe from his Yorkshire roots. Probably my favorite comm/analyst to listen to, always controversial and straight to the point, very refreshing. Excellent news to hear he has been knighted, shame about the incident in 1998 which probably slowed this down by 20 years or so.
 
silentkiller187 said:
Always had a soft spot for Pakistan, maybe from his Yorkshire roots. Probably my favorite comm/analyst to listen to, always controversial and straight to the point, very refreshing. Excellent news to hear he has been knighted, shame about the incident in 1998 which probably slowed this down by 20 years or so.
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The "incident" was a travesty of justice. The woman's injuries bore precisely zero resemblance to the type of assault she described, but were entirely consistent with a drunken stumble.

There was evidence given by many of Boycott's former partners that he is never violent, but also one was not permitted to give evidence that he had told her prior to the trip to France that the girlfriend had asked him for a large amount of money to pay off her business debts.

He's lucky that his knighthood was awarded by a female PM: I'm not sure that any male PM could have done it.
 
He seems to have a soft spot for Pakistan. For this reason alone he is worthy of being a "Sir". Conflagrations Sir Boycs!:rp I don't believe in the false accusations labelled at him, not having it!
 
DCsQV2uXUAAkT4V.jpg

Emma boycott[daughter] was like a parent to Geoffrey. ‘She changed him a lot. He had never had to put himself out for anyone. He was the oldest and he was totally spoilt by his mother,’ she said.

‘He just didn’t know how to parent. I’d tell him he had to let her win at games sometimes but he just said “why?” He could be very brusque at times and you could see how people could become offended but if I pointed it out he’d be mortified. They are very similar and neither would ever knowingly do a bad thing.’
 
Amongst the greatest openers of all time, better than ali cook by some distance.
Much like an inferior version of the Goat opener Sunil gavaskar.
 
Markhor said:
At last.

Boycott is one of the most controversial characters in English cricket history. He has his staunch admirers and critics in equal measure. He won many friends but also many enemies even in his own county, including Yorkshire icons like Fred Trueman.

In some ways, parallels can be drawn to Sunil Gavaskar. Their self-absorbed nature and extreme stubborness was an asset as an opening batsman looking to protect their wicket like a bird protects its flock. How England could do do with an opener like him now ! But these characteristics are less endearing as human beings hence many fallouts in a stormy career.

It's as a commentator however Boycott has achieved unexpected fame. Always forthright and honest, an excellent analyst of batting techniques, he has inspired a whole vocabulary of Boycottisms (my mother could've batted better than that, stick of rhubarb, roo-bish etc).

From a Pakistan perspective, Boycott defended the team from ball tampering allegations in 1992 and 2006. He famously quipped that "Wasim and Waqar could bowl England out with oranges", and that Derek Pringle who at the time admitted to ball tampering wasn't given the same media attention because "A) He's white, B) He's Essex, and C) He's not very good !"
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This is slightly unfair to Gavaskar, is many things you said and much more but unlike boycott he isn't a racist wife beating *****.
 
PakLFC said:
He seems to have a soft spot for Pakistan. For this reason alone he is worthy of being a "Sir". Conflagrations Sir Boycs!:rp I don't believe in the false accusations labelled at him, not having it!
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What false allegations? he has been convicted of domestic abuse by a french court.
 
jagatk said:
What false allegations? he has been convicted of domestic abuse by a french court.
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The conviction looked to be on pretty dodgy grounds. She claimed to have been punched more than 20 times across the body yet had a single impact injury to the head and even her friends and family came out and said she was lying.
 
HitWicket said:
The conviction looked to be on pretty dodgy grounds. She claimed to have been punched more than 20 times across the body yet had a single impact injury to the head and even her friends and family came out and said she was lying.
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But he appealed and even that failed, so clearly he was at fault. Anyone can say what they want, the fact remains he was convicted and his appeal failed. If we are going to random people over actual court proceedings then no one ever will be guilty of any crimes.
 
jagatk said:
But he appealed and even that failed, so clearly he was at fault. Anyone can say what they want, the fact remains he was convicted and his appeal failed. If we are going to random people over actual court proceedings then no one ever will be guilty of any crimes.
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Aren't knighthoods taken away from convicted criminals?
 
I would not have Knighted Boycott. He went to apartheid SA and has a conviction for beating a woman.

Strauss, yes, for his role in making England #1 test side for a while and service as ECB Director of Cricket culminating in the World Cup win.
 
JattMaula said:
Aren't knighthoods taken away from convicted criminals?
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Robert said:
I would not have Knighted Boycott. He went to apartheid SA and has a conviction for beating a woman.

Strauss, yes, for his role in making England #1 test side for a while and service as ECB Director of Cricket culminating in the World Cup win.
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There was major discussion at the time as to whether the conviction was analogous to an English criminal conviction.

The French authorities claimed that it “only” was equivalent to an American “misdemeanor” or a British traffic offence.

If you hold someone down on the ground and punch them twenty times they don’t just get a black eye, they also suffer a burst lip, broken nose and multiple cuts. Ms Moore had no such injuries.

Comparing with French Law is difficult. The EU’s newly installed Chair of the European Central Bank has a criminal conviction for fraud which is less than three years old. And the 79 year old Mr Boycott could tomorrow have an intimate liaison with a French 13 year old without committing an offence under French criminal law.

So I would treat French criminal convictions with great scepticism.
 
Robert said:
I would not have Knighted Boycott. He went to apartheid SA and has a conviction for beating a woman.

Strauss, yes, for his role in making England #1 test side for a while and service as ECB Director of Cricket culminating in the World Cup win.
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I think the Strauss knighthood is absurd.

If it is for the World Cup win, then I’d put Stokes and Farbrace and Archer up before him. And anyway, if he’s responsible for that win he’s responsible for two lost Ashes.

He was briefly the Director of Cricket and his choice as coach lost an outrageous number of Tests.

You and I both know that the dual knighthoods of Cook and Strauss show that the Old Boys Network reigns supreme in English cricket.

Of recent English cricketers you can make a vastly stronger argument for Jimmy Anderson being knighted than either Cook or Strauss.

Except he’s from Burnley, and didn’t go to boarding school.
 
Sir Alastair Cook.

Sir Andrew Strauss.

Mr Michael Vaughan.

Mr James Anderson.

Please explain.

(I thought Richie Richardson’s knighthood was a bit soft, but Cook and Strauss? Really?)
 
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So [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] we base the case for Knighthood on whether we like a player or not?

Botham also has a conviction, but redeemed himself by raising £10M for childhood leukaemia research and care. Boycott has done no such redemptive work.

FWIW I thought Cook’s K was premature.
 
Here is the guy called [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] says Smith should be banned for life for ball tampering and giving praise for knighthood to boycott (who I admire,he is a great commentator and analyst) what services did he give to England,played selfish knocks,always tried to boost his average,going to rebel tours,when someone teammate runouts him Botham he didn't talk to him for a long time because he ruined his average.Double standards.
 
In a post-70s England XI, I will have Gooch, Boycott and Cook all three.
 
andy0204 said:
Here is the guy called [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] says Smith should be banned for life for ball tampering and giving praise for knighthood to boycott (who I admire,he is a great commentator and analyst) what services did he give to England,played selfish knocks,always tried to boost his average,going to rebel tours,when someone teammate runouts him Botham he didn't talk to him for a long time because he ruined his average.Double standards.
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Yes.

I don’t like that Boycott went to South Africa, but he was within his rights to do so.

Smith’s team took a form of cheating and implemented it on a monumental scale, exactly analogous to the doping of Lance Armstrong.
 
Robert said:
They could be but I can’t think of an example. I think Green’s K should be rescinded, and Saville’s posthumously.
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Robert said:
So [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] we base the case for Knighthood on whether we like a player or not?

Botham also has a conviction, but redeemed himself by raising £10M for childhood leukaemia research and care. Boycott has done no such redemptive work.

FWIW I thought Cook’s K was premature.
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The problem is that we become de-sensitised to the ludicrous baubles that the upper class award to one another, rather like the preposterous amount of military medals that Charles, William, Andrew et al sport as if they have earned them.

If you restrict yourself to cricketing exploits, then Cook and Strauss are less entitled to a gong than Vaughan and Anderson of late but also Gatting, Underwood, Knott, Gooch and Willis.

If it is due to charity work, then Strauss is three weeks into it: his claim is basically nothing.

If it’s for directing team management, then AK Smith, Raman Subba Row, Mickey Stewart and Ray Illingworth have at least as strong a case.

But we all know where Strauss and Cook went to school, so that’s that.

What’s doubly annoying is that the winter before his Test debut Alastair Cook skipped club cricket in Perth with literally dozens of unpaid speeding and parking fines. But he has “character” based on his social station, so he gets a knighthood for no apparent reason.
 
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Junaids said:
But he has “character” based on his social station, so he gets a knighthood for no apparent reason.
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I doubt it's got anything to do with him being England's leading test run scorer by a mile and the highest scoring opener in test history, along with captaining his country in more tests than anyone.
 
HitWicket said:
I doubt it's got anything to do with him being England's leading test run scorer by a mile and the highest scoring opener in test history, along with captaining his country in more tests than anyone.
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Trueman and Willis retired with the world wickets record.

Knott retired with the world wicketkeeper dismissals record.

Boycott retired with the world Test runs record 16 years before the alleged assault.

Yet nobody gave them knighthoods. Because they hadn’t been to elite private boarding schools and been born to rule.
 
Junaids said:
The problem is that we become de-sensitised to the ludicrous baubles that the upper class award to one another, rather like the preposterous amount of military medals that Charles, William, Andrew et al sport as if they have earned them.

If you restrict yourself to cricketing exploits, then Cook and Strauss are less entitled to a gong than Vaughan and Anderson of late but also Gatting, Underwood, Knott, Gooch and Willis.

If it is due to charity work, then Strauss is three weeks into it: his claim is basically nothing.

If it’s for directing team management, then AK Smith, Raman Subba Row, Mickey Stewart and Ray Illingworth have at least as strong a case.

But we all know where Strauss and Cook went to school, so that’s that.

What’s doubly annoying is that the winter before his Test debut Alastair Cook skipped club cricket in Perth with literally dozens of unpaid speeding and parking fines. But he has “character” based on his social station, so he gets a knighthood for no apparent reason.
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Hutton, Bedser, Hadlee and Botham didn’t go to the right school. Or Boycott.

I would never give Gatt, Underwood, Gooch and Knott a K as they all went to SA.

Those managers you name didn’t win the WC.

Vaughan didn’t direct the ECB.

I think Willis and Anderson have strong claims.
 
Glad he is recognised, a great voice of cricket and very good batsmen for England.

Congratulations. :boycott
 
A recent quote from him when I met him at Headingley during the ODI between England and Pakistan.

"I'm 78 years old and I could still field better than some of these Pakistani lads".
 
Junaids said:
I felt an enormous pang of pride today when I learned that "Sir Geoffrey" has finally been knighted. It rights a terrible wrong.

Boycott in the words of Ian Wooldridge, "walks alone" as the greatest England batsman. His game was based upon Steve Smith-like practice combined with a perfect defensive technique and incredible powers of concentration and stubborness.

Boycott was a self-absorbed, selfish man until cancer struck him low. He was a terrible partner and father and team-mate, yet in his sixties he was redeemed and turned into a kind, considerate father and husband to his long-suffering on-off partner Rachael.

His relentness self-absorption tore apart Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the 1980's. He made the appalling decision half a decade earlier to go to Apartheid South Africa at the age of 40 for a final bumper payday. One of the funniest moments in cricket history was when, in a brief period as England's accidental cricket captain, he put his own average ahead of acceleration before a declaration at Wellington which led to Ian Botham running him out on purpose.

And yet in spite of that, Boycott is a figure who evokes passionate support from people as diverse as ex-Prime Minister Theresa May (who just knighted him) and myself, a Lancashire fan.

Boycott's hundredth hundred, on his home ground Headingley in 1977, is viewed by all of us who had the privilege to watch it as the greatest moment in cricket history over the last 50 years.

Boycott had exited Test cricket in his early thirties as the extreme pace of Lillee and Thomson and then Roberts and Holding emerged. (All four were recorded in the 1975-76 Perth Test bowling in the 150's). People said that Boycott and his Kiwi counterpart Glenn Turner were cowards who were scared of humiliation.

We have all seen these last three weeks that no cricket on earth is as intense as Ashes cricket. Yet Boycott returned a few months before his 37th birthday against an express attack including both Thomson and Lennie Pascoe, both of whom were far quicker than any current bowler.

The rest is history - Boycott made his hundredth hundred in front of his adoring public and his 191 set up an innings victory.

For many years a dubious conviction for assault in France looked like costing Boycott the knighthood he so richly deserves. What wouldn't I give to have Boycott instead of Buttler or Roy in this Test team?

Today is a day to celebrate. To celebrate a flawed man who was a great defensive batsman, who matured and grew into the greatest cricket analyst that the press and TV and radio have had in the modern age.
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Arise indeed, no doubt one of the greatest of all time, I'd be tempted to put him behind Brandman and he is far ahead of Sachin Tendulkar!
 
[MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION]

Jack Hobbs or Boycott, who would you put just behind the Don ? it's a tough one but I have watched Boycott mostly so will go with him also as my relatives speak of him highly, that says a lot coming from me even though he is a Yorkshireman !
 
Robert said:
Hutton, Bedser, Hadlee and Botham didn’t go to the right school. Or Boycott.

I would never give Gatt, Underwood, Gooch and Knott a K as they all went to SA.

Those managers you name didn’t win the WC.

Vaughan didn’t direct the ECB.

I think Willis and Anderson have strong claims.
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Not disagreeing with the overall point, but Alec Bedser was very much a part of the establishment and had extremely close ties with the Conservative Party. He was a founding member of the ultra right-wing Freedom Association which lobbied for causes such as the reinstatement of sporting relations with South Africa and banning favourable media coverage of the anti-apartheid cause. Bedser was instrumental in those lobbying efforts, including the d'Oliveira affair. He should never have been knighted if we are applying the anti-apatheird standard to the likes of Gooch and Knott.
 
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Last Monetarist said:
Not disagreeing with the overall point, but Alec Bedser was very much a part of the establishment and had extremely close ties with the Conservative Party. He was a founding member of the ultra right-wing Freedom Association which lobbied for causes such as the reinstatement of sporting relations with South Africa and banning favourable media coverage of the anti-apartheid cause. Bedser was instrumental in those lobbying efforts, including the d'Oliveira affair. He should never have been knighted if we are applying the anti-apatheird standard to the likes of Gooch and Knott.
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Fair point. I was challenging the idea that you had to go to the right school to get a K.
 
PakLFC said:
Not by a British court I believe.
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Guilty in court is guilty in court. Doesn't matter which. He beat a woman and he was convicted for it. Sets a bad precedent when people charged with domestic abuse are allowed highest honors anywhere.
 
I’m half wondering if this will be rescinded.

Has kicked up a massive stink in the UK.
 
jagatk said:
What false allegations? he has been convicted of domestic abuse by a french court.
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Mrs Moore complained in France four weeks after the event, when she had no injuries.

And Boycott was charged with a minor offence and convicted in absentia there.

But three days after the alleged assault Mrs Moore attempted to lay charges in London. And the Metropolitan Police were clear that her black eyes without skin cuts or nose injuries were not consistent with being punched 20 times while lying restrained on a tiled floor, and they refused to press charges.

Incidentally, the charge used in France was the same one used for the sort of fracas that Boris and his girlfriend had a couple of months ago.
 
Junaids said:
Mrs Moore complained in France four weeks after the event, when she had no injuries.

And Boycott was charged with a minor offence and convicted in absentia there.

But three days after the alleged assault Mrs Moore attempted to lay charges in London. And the Metropolitan Police were clear that her black eyes without skin cuts or nose injuries were not consistent with being punched 20 times while lying restrained on a tiled floor, and they refused to press charges.

Incidentally, the charge used in France was the same one used for the sort of fracas that Boris and his girlfriend had a couple of months ago.
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He might have been convicted in absentia, but he appealed twice, both times he was present. Yet the decision stood. I don't understand this boycott supporters initiative to malign French law and court, it isn't a kangaroo court folks. And as much the wife beater might want you to believe it doesn't work on guilty until proven innocent. He was convicted of a crime in a democratic country's court.

Didn't the English police just recently decide not to charge the queen's husband when he caused an accident that injured 2 people, I am sure he too was completely not at fault.
 
jagatk said:
Guilty in court is guilty in court. Doesn't matter which. He beat a woman and he was convicted for it. Sets a bad precedent when people charged with domestic abuse are allowed highest honors anywhere.
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No it is not. India says Yadav is innocent where as we say he is guilty. As Yadav is in Pak it does not matter what India thinks. Similarly Boycs commentates on Test Match special I believe without fans ever complaining about his presence. All this has come up now only coz he's been knighted, that's all. People also accuse IK of having fathered a child outside wedlock.
 
While growing up, Boycott was my favorite commentator along with Siddhu. The banter those two used to had was hilarious. I still remember Boycott being teased about Shilpa Shetty. Commentary and pre/post match shows in early 2000's were fun.

Not sure about his personal life which is being discussed here so can't comment on that. However, from cricketing perspective, it is well deserved.
 
Geoffrey Boycott appears to have commentated on his last match for BBC Test Match Special after the corporation announced its lineup of on-air talent for the summer and omitted the former England batsman.

The evening Test highlights show on terrestrial television returns to BBC Two this year as part of English cricket’s new broadcast deal until 2024, with Isa Guha named as lead presenter and Alastair Cook among the pundits.

Boycott was absent from the list of TMS commentators for 2020 and, aged 79, would have been unlikely to work on England’s Test series against West Indies and Pakistan because of Covid‑19. But sources suggest that while the former Yorkshire batsman may yet appear as a guest on an ad hoc basis, there were already plans to move him out of the commentary box before the pandemic struck.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Due to the current situation, Geoffrey is not part of the commentary team for the [West Indies] series. However, we are monitoring the situation closely and we hope to look forward to him making an appearance on TMS this summer.”

The former Yorkshire opener, who was knighted last year in Theresa May’s resignation honours list, has been part of the TMS commentary team since 2005, having previously been let go in 1998 following his conviction in a French court for assaulting his then girlfriend Margaret Moore.

England’s fixtures will be staged behind closed doors this summer but it remains a big year for the BBC’s cricket coverage, with Guha, the former England women’s seamer who already commentates for TMS, becoming the new face of the evening highlights after its switch from Channel 5.

Guha was also due to work on the Hundred, the live coverage of which is being shared with Sky Sports under a five-year deal worth £1.1bn to English cricket, but the controversial new tournament has been postponed until 2021 because of ongoing pandemic.

Cook, who has done radio stints with the BBC since retiring from international cricket in 2018, will join Guha on the 7pm nightly show, with Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies international, also on board for the first summer series that begins at the Ageas Bowl on 8 July.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...-bbc-test-match-special-looks-to-be-at-an-end
 
FUxRYL5.png
 
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One of the few commentators worth paying attention to especially when it comes to dissecting batting techniques.

Sad to see him go.
 
It's a sad end, undoubtedly hastened by health concerns due to the coronavirus.

Only Holding, Gavaskar, and Bhogle left from the old guard that commentated regularly during the 90s.
 
Boycs is not a happy man and rightly so.

Always enjoyed listening to his views. To the point, says it how it is and doesn't suck up to the players.

He will be missed on TMS.
 
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Some of my favourite commentary from Geoff Boycott was in a Pakistan v India Sahara Cup series in Toronto in 1997 - you could tell Boycott was a Pakistan fan deep down as he would criticise them for playing like school kids and the excitement he had in the final game when Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed opened batting and went berserk was something else...
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">1/2 I would like to thank <a href="https://twitter.com/bbctms?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bbctms</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCSport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BBCSport</a> for a wonderful 14 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and just love cricket with a passion. I also wish to thank all those that have said how much they have enjoyed my commentary and for those that haven’t- too bad.</p>— Sir Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott/status/1268942233790799873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2/5 my contract with BBC finished end of last summer. I would loved to continue but need to be realistic & honest with myself. Covid -19 has made the decision for both of us.</p>— Sir Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott/status/1268944036460625921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3/5 Recently I had a quadruple heart by-pass and at 79 am the wrong age to be commentating in a bio secure area trapped all day in confined spaces with the same people- even if some of those commentators I regard as friends and others I admire.</p>— Sir Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott/status/1268944800654426113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4/4 Hopefully I may still have some input <a href="https://twitter.com/bbctms?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bbctms</a> if that tall lanky ex Leicestershire medium pace bowler needs an honest appraisal or wants to take the mickey out of me maybe he will give me a call while on air To everyone out there Be sensible Stay alive Your life is precious.</p>— Sir Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott/status/1268945945825357824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sorry that circumstances mean you can’t be with us this summer in person <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GeoffreyBoycott</a>. <br><br>But looking forward to hearing you from home on the programme soon. <br><br>And thanks so much for your huge contribution over the last 14 years. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bbccricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bbccricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/U2j9o3Om4M">https://t.co/U2j9o3Om4M</a></p>— Test Match Special (@bbctms) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbctms/status/1268949879725993984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Former Australia cricketer Lisa Sthalekar is not happy with the statement made by former England opener and noted pundit Sir Geoffrey Boycott wherein he says that only men who have played Test cricket should serve as “expert” commentators. Also Read - Shane Watson Named President of The Australian Cricketers' Association

Boycott, who recently left BBC’s Test Match Special after 14 years, made this statement in a controversial column published in the London Telegraph. Also Read - Former England Prime Minister Theresa May Confers 'Knighthood' on Geoffrey Boycott and Andrew Strauss

“To provide expert analysis you need to have experienced the heat of Test cricket and understand what it takes to succeed,” the 79-year-old wrote.

“You have to know the pressure, emotions and technique required and I do not believe you can learn that from reading a book or because you played club cricket, second XI cricket or, with great respect, women’s cricket. As good as the women are at their game, it bears no resemblance to the power and pace of men’s cricket,” he added.

Reacting to it, Sthalekar, who is now a celebrated commentator, said Boycott’s argument was flawed.

“It, obviously, helps to have been in similar situations to then go: ‘This is what the players might be thinking’. But the thought process and how people play the game is still exactly the same whether you play men’s cricket or women’s cricket,” she was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.

She further said Boycott’s “power and pace” argument, of which he talks about in the column, was ridiculous.

“It’s got nothing to do with power. The other thing as well, and this is for guys as women’s cricket is pretty cool and sexy at the moment, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, but we need to remember that we don’t need guys coming in asking women to compare it to men’s because it is not. It is different,” she said.

“The same argument for him is that we shouldn’t have any males commentating on our game because they have never played against females. But that is not what we (cricket) are about,” she added.

According to the former Australian all-rounder, Boycott — by making such assertions — is actually “dissing” the industry he has been a part of for a long period of time.

“It’s time for him to leave the game and let’s remember him as a great cricketer of a certain generation. Talk about power – I didn’t see much power that he displayed,” said Sthalekar.

“Let’s call up his strike rate and look at some of the numbers compared to female Test cricketers of even that generation. I think some of the female cricketers would have had a better strike rate than he did,” she added.

Boycott played 108 Tests for England from 1964 to 1982 in which he scored 8,114 runs and was captain on four occasions in 1978 in place of the injured Mike Brearley. He, along with Andrew Strauss, was knighted last year.

Sthalekar, on the other hand, played eight Tests, 125 ODIs and 54 T20Is in which she scored 416, 2728 and 769 runs respectively. Besides, she also picked up 23, 146 and 60 wickets in each of the three formats.

https://www.india.com/sports/i-didn...isa-sthalekar-slams-geoffrey-boycott-4052304/
 
Would love to see this happen.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">One more commentary stint - Fix it <a href="https://twitter.com/bhogleharsha?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bhogleharsha</a> (when safe) and I will be there👍🏻 stay safe xxx <a href="https://t.co/rVHB8h0Kew">https://t.co/rVHB8h0Kew</a></p>— Sir Geoffrey Boycott (@GeoffreyBoycott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeoffreyBoycott/status/1270062778439647234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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