"Other teams around the world will take note" - Sir Geoffrey Boycott laments England's 'comfort zone' after PAK vs ENG 2024 Test series
Former England opener Sir Geoffrey Boycott reckons other teams around the world will have taken note of the national team's glaring weaknesses after their crushing Test series loss to Pakistan. Boycott believes England's current team are risking building their reputation as flat-track bullies.
England seemed favorites to win their second consecutive away series against Pakistan after an innings and 47-run victory in the first Test. However, Pakistan roared back in the next two matches, exposing England's spin woes to register a 2-1 series triumph.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, Boycott stated that England must win on all types of surfaces to build a legacy, but reckons they look clueless out of their comfort zones. He wrote:
"If you want to have a legacy as a great team then you have to be able to win on all surfaces. Unfortunately, they are wasting their opportunity and risk being remembered as flat-track bullies unless they make some adjustments for conditions. We have now seen that for all their great batting on flat pitches, this England team has an Achilles heel and other teams around the world will take note. Take England’s batsmen out of their comfort zone and you have a fantastic chance of beating them."
Boycott opined that England have become complacent after thinking that they have reinvented the wheel in Test cricket:
"It was annoying to hear the England players saying after the Pakistan series defeat: ‘That’s how we as a group play. It gives the impression that they think they know it all and have nothing to learn. Richie Benaud used to say you never stop learning! Our youngsters seem to think they invented the wheel, don’t want to change and that we oldies don’t know anything about Test match cricket."
Pakistan made wholesale changes following the defeat in the series opener and it paid off. Debutant Kamran Ghulam scored a hundred in the second Test, while comeback men Sajid Khan and Noman Ali combined to take 39 scalps.
"For two Test matches our batting was pathetic against spin" - Sir Geoffrey Boycott
The 84-year-old also observed that Pakistan exposed England's faulty technique of going against spin with hard hands and leaving a gap between bat and pad. He wrote:
"On a spinning pitch in Pakistan, I don’t know what was worse: England’s inability to get rid of the tail cheaply or the dreadful batting against the turning ball. For two Test matches our batting was pathetic against spin. In India earlier this year the batsmen were weak and easily spun out. As soon as the ball grips Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes are all at sea. They go at the ball with hard hands and there are gaps between bat and pad."
Boycott went on to single out Harry Brook for being at sea against spin after his 317 in the first Test, writing:
"Some of our guys have learned nothing. High-risk strokes are not smart. Trying safer shots would bring a better rate of success than trying to be clever. A perfect example is Brook. He scored a brilliant 317 in the first Test and in the next four innings he was naive with no idea against spin and totalled 56 runs."
England will next head to New Zealand for a three-Test series, starting November 28.