Stats: Geoffrey Boycott: The original English grafter

Boycott was known for his ability to stay in the crease for a long time

It was billed as the battle for cricket supremacy, West Indies opted to bat in the 1^st test of the 1995 Frank Worrell trophy at Bridgetown, Barbados. Pal Reifel and Brendan Julien quickly tore into the West Indian top order, which was by then only a pale shadow of what it had been a decade ago; think of comparing Sherwin Campbell and Stuart Williams with Greenidge and Haynes and you’ll get what I’m talking about.    

A 10-3 reading at the scoreboard brought two undeniable, and probably the last, bajan geniuses together in Brian Lara and Carl Hooper. From then on till lunch, the Australian bowlers were brought to eye level courtesy some brutal, yet handsome, shots all over the park. Two of the most gifted modern day batsmen were trying to salvage the fortunes of their once mighty kingdom. The counter-attack was not enough, and West Indies went down in the match and the series to officially pass the mantle of dominance to Australia.

Brian Lara and Carl Hooper’s talents were almost equal in their measure, yet still they yielded contrasting results. They were dismissed at scores of 65 and 60 respectively and while Lara would go on to register monumental scores over his career, Hooper continued to disappoint when he looked the most promising. When in full flow, Hooper’s fans were not just exasperated by the exercise of his gifts but they were equally fearful of him losing his wicket all too softly in the midst of it.

Although a serious re-assessment of his numbers is required to gauge his true stature, Hooper nonetheless makes you wish that his numbers were as great as Lara’s or Richards’, thus leaving out the scope for any justifications.

Hooper’s tale often brings other players to mind (the casual, languid style of David Gower and Rohit Sharma often gives the impression of talent sans application) and is one end of the spectrum. At the other end, are cricketers who make up for a lack of general skill by showing unwavering dedication. In the case of Yorkshireman Geoffrey Boycott, the dedication came at the cost of almost everything else in life. A keen student of the game from an early age, Boycott was not a prodigiously talented kid as were other great English batsmen before him. But if there was one thing evident at that age, it was his absolute dedication to batting.

This often came at the expense of his personality which did not open out to anyone or anything apart from a singular ambition to be a top batsman. His tale, of a player regarded as a run of the mill talent to becoming the most prolific run scorer in Tests is a lesson in rewards that hard work can reap.  

Boycott played for England in 108 Tests, of which England won 35 and lost only 20 (W/L Ratio: 1.75). Post his retirement in 1982 till 31 Dec 1999, England played 188 matches, won 42 and lost 75 (W/L Ratio: .56). For a man who earned detractors everywhere he stepped foot, this is a fitting portrait of his value to his team; a solid, uncompromising opening batsman who made sure that wickets did not fall in heaps when he was at the crease.

People who were busy howling about his ‘rude’ demeanour, were ruing his absence after his retirement. How did Boycott’s career pan out, and how does it compare with his contemporaries and others?

Boycott’s career can be divided into two parts, from his debut in 1964 to 1970, and from 1970 onwards till his retirement in 1982. Boycott enjoyed a stupendous series in Australia in 1970/71, scoring 657 runs at 93.85, and from here his numbers started to progress from impressive to being stellar. In the last 12 years of his career, Boycott averaged 50.50, scoring 16 of his 22 test centuries.

Boycott in action at Lord's

This included a three year period from 1974 to 1977 when he made himself unavailable for national selection owing to differences at the appointment at Mike Denness being made the England captain and his own commitment to reviving Yorkshire’s dwindling fortunes in the County Championship.
 

	Matches	Inns	n.o.	Runs	Avg	100s	50s
4 Jun 1964 - 21 Aug 1969	41	70	9	2609	42.77	6	13
27 Nov 1970 - 1 Jan 1982	67	123	14	5505	50.50	16	29
Overall	108	193	23	8114	47.73	22	42

Table 1: Boycott Career Split

During his peak from 1970 to 1982, Boycott’s numbers stood up well against the numbers of his contemporaries. Boycott’s run tally (5505) is exceeded only by Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappell whereas his average is also bettered only by Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappell. This period also included his triumphant 100^th first-class century at Headingley vs Australia in 1977. 
 

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Ave	100	50
Viv Richards	45	70	4	3971	60.16	13	16
Sunil Gavaskar	73	131	9	6630	54.34	24	29
Greg Chappell	71	126	15	5976	53.83	19	28
Geoff Boycott	67	123	14	5505	50.50	16	29
Dennis Amiss	45	80	9	3487	49.11	11	11
Ian Chappell	44	82	6	3578	47.07	10	18
Roy Fredericks	49	90	7	3809	45.89	8	22

Table 2: Top batsmen from Nov’70 – Jan’82
 

Even almost 35 years after his retirement, Geoff Boycott is placed 5th on the list of highest scoring opening batsmen. It would give him some happiness to find a fellow Englishman (Cook) at the top of the tree here. But it is a testament to his achievements that even after 35 years, it has been surpassed only by a few batsmen.

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Ave	100	50
Alastair Cook	133	240	13	10430	45.94	28	51
Sunil Gavaskar	119	203	12	9607	50.29	33	42
Graeme Smith	114	196	12	9030	49.07	27	36
Matthew Hayden	103	184	14	8625	50.73	30	29
Virender Sehwag	99	170	6	8207	50.04	22	30
Geoff Boycott	107	191	23	8091	48.16	22	42
Graham Gooch	100	184	6	7811	43.88	18	41
Mark Taylor	104	186	13	7525	43.49	19	40
Gordon Greenidge	107	182	16	7488	45.1	19	34
Michael Atherton	108	197	6	7476	39.14	16	45
Desmond Haynes	116	201	25	7472	42.45	18	39
Chris Gayle	99	173	10	7028	43.11	15	36

Table 3: Highest scoring Opening Batsmen (Qual – 7000 runs)

 

What is amazing about this phase of his career is that he scored all these runs after having crossed the age of 30; Boycott is the 5^th highest run scorer after the age of 30 amongst English batsmen, and the 3^rd ranked opening batsmen overall. What’s even more fascinating are the runs he scored after the age of 35. Only Graham Gooch, Misbah-ul-Haq and Sachin Tendulkar have scored more runs than Boycott’s 3535.

 

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Ave	100	50
Graham Gooch	52	96	2	4563	48.54	12	21
Misbah Ul Haq	59	105	16	4182	46.98	8	35
Sachin Tendulkar	53	91	8	4139	49.86	12	19
Geoff Boycott	45	83	9	3535	47.77	10	16
Rahul Dravid	47	85	8	3493	45.36	12	13
Alec Stewart	58	101	12	3310	37.19	5	18
Shiv Chanderpaul	43	74	17	3291	57.73	9	14
Younis Khan	35	67	7	3224	53.73	13	6
Patsy Hendren	44	69	9	3189	53.15	7	18

Table 4: Most runs after the age of 35

 

Being an opening batsmen gave Boycott the opportunity to score in partnerships (even though some would claim that he batted in utter disregard of his partner). During his career, Boycott was involved in 47 century partnerships which was an English record at that time. Even today, only two other batsmen have surpassed this figure - Alastair Cook and Ian Bell.

Batsman	No. of century Partnerships
Alastair Cook	72
Ian Bell	51
Geoff Boycott	47
Pietersen	46
Colin Cowdrey	42
Len Hutton	41
Andrew Strauss	41
Graham Gooch	41
David Gower	38
Alec Stewart	37

Table 5: Century partnerships by England batsmen

 

Throughout his career, Boycott returned favourable numbers against all opposition, another hallmark of his consistency. But appropriately, it is against Australia that his record is the most ominous. Boycott’s overall tally of 2945 runs is only bettered by Jack Hobbs and David Gower on the all-time list, and taking a cut off of 2000 runs into account, his average (47.50) is placed sixth.

Those are not bad given the names that follow him on the list. His centuries (7) are also bettered by Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond and Herbert Sutcliffe (all pre-war batsmen).

If we consider batsmen who made their debut post-1946, Boycott emerges only behind Gower as the most prolific post-war England Ashes batsman, his average is also 3^rd best after Ken Barrington and John Edrich. 
 

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	Average	100	50
Herbert Sutcliffe	27	46	2741	66.85	8	16
Ken Barrington	23	39	2111	63.96	5	13
Len Hutton	27	49	2428	56.46	5	14
Jack Hobbs	41	71	3636	54.26	12	15
Wally Hammond	33	58	2852	51.85	9	7
John Edrich	32	57	2644	48.96	7	13
Geoff Boycott	38	71	2945	47.5	7	14
Kevin Pietersen	27	50	2158	44.95	4	13
David Gower	42	77	3269	44.78	9	12
Alastair Cook	30	55	2117	39.2	4	11
Colin Cowdrey	43	75	2433	34.26	5	11
Graham Gooch	42	79	2632	33.31	4	16

Table 6: England batsmen vs Australia (Qual-2000 runs)

 

I made a mention of Boycott's magnificent performance vs Australia in 1970/71, the series where his transition to being considered a world class batsman began. His tally of 657 runs in that series remains the 6^th highest aggregated by an England opener against any opposition. Needless to say, England won that series and it effectively ended Bill Lawry’s career both as a captain and a player.

Batsman	Opposition	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Ave	100	50
Alastair Cook	Australia (2010/11)	5	7	1	766	127.66	3	2
Graham Gooch	India (1990)	3	6	0	752	125.33	3	2
Herbert Sutcliffe	Australia (1924/25)	5	8	0	701	87.62	4	2
Dennis Amiss	West Indies (1973/74)	5	9	1	663	82.87	3	0
Jack Hobbs	Australia (1911/12)	5	9	1	662	82.75	3	1
Geoff Boycott	Australia (1970/71)	5	10	3	657	93.85	2	5
Andrew Strauss	South Africa (2004/05)	5	10	1	656	72.88	3	1
Len Hutton	West Indies (1953/54)	5	7	0	647	92.42	2	3
Michael Vaughan	Australia (2002/03)	5	10	0	633	63.3	3	0
Michael Vaughan	India (2002)	4	7	1	615	102.5	3	1

Table 7: Most runs in a series by England opener
 

Boycott, given his pugnacious attitude, fittingly also mastered the toughest ask for a batsman in Test cricket. Many a great name (Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara to name a few) performed mediocrely in the 4^th Innings of a Test match. Boycott had no such problems; for batsmen who scored more than 1000 runs in the 4^th innings of a Test, Boycott’s average is the highest, followed very closely by the man who overtook his runs tally in 1983, Sunil Gavaskar.

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100	50
Geoff Boycott	36	34	1234	58.76	3	7
Sunil Gavaskar	34	33	1398	58.25	4	8
Younis Khan	44	37	1441	55.42	5	6
Gordon Greenidge	41	38	1383	53.19	3	6
Graeme Smith	42	41	1611	51.96	4	9
Ricky Ponting	56	43	1462	50.41	4	6
Matthew Hayden	39	39	1287	49.5	1	9
Graham Gooch	30	29	1121	44.84	3	5
Desmond Haynes	45	45	1092	43.68	2	4

Table 8: Most runs in 4^th Innings 

 

Young cricket fans of my generation have only known Geoffrey Boycott as a logical, straight talking commentator who calls it as he sees it. His batsmanship too was pretty much a reflection of his own personality; a no-nonsense, performance-obsessed exercise.

While his record is well known, what is not is how hard he worked on his limited abilities to get there. Dicky Bird once said in an interview that Geoffrey Boycott is perhaps the greatest self-made cricketer the world has ever seen. Boycott’s story has a lot to teach about the value of hard work and his numbers are perhaps the most emphatic output of that rare virtue.