"England mauled Australia but lost" - Geoffrey Boycott cites 'hubris' behind failure to regain Ashes
Former England opener Sir Geoffrey Boycott criticized Ben Stokes and Co for letting their 'hubris' get in their way of winning the Ashes back. The 82-year-old observed that England played good cricket, but Australia have walked away with the honors.
With the series standing at 2-1 in favor of Australia, England have lost hopes of regaining the urn. Pat Cummins and Co prevailed in the first two matches before England bounced back in Headingley to make it 2-1.
In his column for The Telegraph, Boycott stated:
"It’s called hubris. I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary and it says: arrogance, conceit, superiority, and big headedness. Well, they did entertain at Edgbaston but reckless batting cost them the match. So England mauled Australia but lost."
The former Yorkshire batter went on to credit the IPL for England taking full advantage of good batting conditions, evidenced by their score of 592 in Manchester. He said:
"England maul teams when conditions suit them. When pitches are flat, they don't mind batting second. They have won four tosses and had the courage to put Australia in three times. After 15 years of IPL, attitudes have changed."
"What England did in the first innings in Manchester was fantastic. They scored at nearly six an over but they did it for 592 runs. Many teams have spurts of quick scoring in Test cricket, but to do it over 107 overs was magnificent."
With Australia scoring only 317 in their first innings at Old Trafford, England put them to the sword. Zak Crawley smashed 189, while Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, and Moeen Ali made enterprising half-centuries.
"England had an opportunity of a lifetime and they screwed it up" - Geoffrey Boycott
Boycott underlined that England let the win slip during the 1st Test at Edgbaston, adding:
"England had an opportunity of a lifetime and they screwed it up. The idea of losing the Ashes should give them nightmares. In the first Test at Edgbaston, England were winning it 90 per cent of the time and then threw it away by batting wildly in the second innings."
England have retained the same 14-man squad for the fifth and final Test at the Kennington Oval, starting on Thursday, July 27.