Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has criticized England’s attitude for not making winning a priority in the first Test of the Ashes 2023 against Australia as well. Boycott feels if England isn’t keen to win and only thinks about entertaining then these Tests are exhibition matches as well. Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took charge as coach and captain respectively, England have played with an aggressive approach.
In his column for the Telegraph, Geoffrey Boycott added: “I listenend to Stuart Broad during the Test. He is a good example. In an interview, he said it does not matter if we lose if we have entertained. No, no and no. It does matter. If England are not playing to win, these Ashes Tests are not important. They are only exhibition matches. It is not about entertaining and then winning. It is about winning first.”
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He continued: “England have got carried away with Bazball and seem to think entertaining is more important than winning. But England supporters want one thing more than anything else – to win the Ashes. If at the end of the series, Australia go home with the Ashes, we will feel sick, regardless of how much we’ve been entertained.”
However, England lost the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston by two wickets as Australia successfully chased down 281. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon added an unbroken 55 runs for the ninth wicket to take the team home and take a 1-0 lead. And, Geoffrey Boycott has also urged England not to keep attacking every time and use a bit of their common sense at times as well.
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“They do not have to change being positive because they are a better side than Australia and will win if they show some common sense,” Boycott said.”Don’t just attack, attack, attack. England need a bit of common sense and pragmatism. That is all that is required. When we are on top, be ruthless and not be sloppy. They gave Australia a get out of jail free card,” Geoffrey Boycott concluded.
