Geoffrey Boycott criticizes England batsmen for poor techniques and lack of patience in Nottingham Test

England was up against India in the opening Test of the five-match series at Nottingham where they failed to get going with the bat in front of Indian pacers who did an outstanding job. Apart from skipper Joe Root, none of the England batsmen showed intent with the bat to score big and give their team a fine lead. In the same sequence of events, former English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has slammed home batsmen for their poor techniques.

Boycott added that England batsmen lacked patience and had poor techniques in front of the Indian pacers. They played the balls which were meant to be left and it showed their lack of patience too. He added that it looked like that the visiting pacers needed only a few balls to dismiss them.

“I recently bumped into Graham Gooch and we chatted about England’s batting. He summed it all up by saying: “Fiery, if bowlers keep it tight for four balls, then you know our batsmen will have a go at the fifth and sixth deliveries and there is every chance they will get themselves out,” wrote Boycott in The Telegraph.

The culture of cricket has changed: Geoffrey Boycott

Boycott stated that in today’s world, a lot of importance is given to limited-overs cricket and players develop their shot selection from there only because the format tempts them to play big. However, in Test cricket, a lot of patience is needed wherein the batters start going for big numbers and that is when they lose their wickets. Bowlers do get the idea of the same, reckoned the former cricketer.

“The culture of cricket has changed. Many of us batsmen love playing shots and because of the diet of one day cricket, modern players are pretty good at it, but it is their defensive technique that lets them down. It might sound unfashionable because of franchise leagues to talk about staying in and being defensive but, as Goochie said, teams only have to bowl a few good balls because they know batsmen will soon be tempted to play a big shot.”