Boycott praises England’s ‘Bazball’ brand of cricket, but urges players to ‘use a bit of brain’

LONDON: Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott expressed a very balanced take on England’s ‘Bazball’ school of cricket, saying that while it is fantastic how it has taken the team’s Test cricket to new heights, the Three Lions do need to cut down on “silly cricket” and “use a bit of brain” as they prepare for the first Test of the Ashes tour to Australia starting at Perth from November 21 onwards.

Boycott was speaking during ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast, hosted by hosted by fellow England stars Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, Phil Tufnell, and David Lloyd.

Speaking on the podcast, Boycott said that he has been “little wary of being too critical” about how England approach the game nowadays because before this under captaincy of Joe Root, it was even worse, with Three Lions having won only one of their last 17 Tests before McCullum’s services were secured back in May, including losing a Test series to West Indies by 1-0.

“I always have been a little wary of being too critical when England, the modern-day England, messes up because where it has taken our cricket from what it was is fantastic. People have a habit, we all have, me included, of forgetting how bad we were under Joe. Joe, wonderful player, lovely lad, I love him to bits. But as a captain and his team were at such a low came back from West Indies, can you remember? Oh yes. We could not have got any lower,” he said.

“Oh, and we played terrible cricket, the body language on the field, they looked as if they were not enjoying it. That’s the first thing you’ve got to do with any set of 11 players, is for God’s sake, enjoy it. Get up in the morning and want to go out there and play. Do you want to bowl? Yeah, I want to bowl. Do you want to bat? I will bat,” he added.

Boycott said that under McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, the current England team has started enjoying their cricket.

“So full marks, fantastic. So we got to be careful when we, we have seen them sometimes go overboard doing, just playing attacking cricket when we should just, well just settle back a bit, just bat sensibly, we will win the match. And we have a right to be a bit critical of that, we have a right because it’s silly cricket. But our cricket has gone from there, up there, and all they have to do now is use a bit of brain,” he added.

Under Ben and Brendon, England has won 22 out of 37 Tests, losing 13 and drawing just two. The highlight is the attacking, positive and result-oriented cricket the Three Lions play. They secured a well-fought, come-from behind 2-2 draw in the Ashes series back in 2023. Their most recent Test assignment saw England and India pull off one of the most thrilling five-match series in a while, with it ending in a 2-2 draw.

In Australia, England has a chance to secure their first Ashes series win there since 2011 and their first since the 2015 triumph at home. (ANI)