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"I had better technique than Gavaskar": Boycott

stumpski

International Captain
I'm familiar with the site (used to post on the forum in fact), but that link isn't working for me. Just tried the homepage and couldn't see it there either.


He may well be right though, it's a long time since I saw either of them obviously but I don't think there was much in it.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Boycott, had he played more, would have been regarded much more highly. I can't separate Gavaskar and Boycott, whatever I have read and watched of the two.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Boycs in rating himself shocker!! :-O

Doesn't actually say why he thinks his technique was better, however.
 

bagapath

International Captain
Did have a three year sulk & withdrew his test services when he should've been somewhere near his peak.
come on. boycott took off for three years from tests after playing international cricket for eleven years from his debut. and then he came back to play for 4 more years. there is no way anyone can say he would be rated higher (or lower) if he had played more. he played enough for us to know his caliber. its okay if someone rated him on par with or better than other openers of his era. he retired as the highest run getter in world cricket for god's sake! but he evokes memories of boring, selfish test match batting that will have no place in my books.

on who is technically better....
technique for technique's sake is pointless. that way, sanjay manjrekar is the most technically equipped of all indian test crickters. that being said i dont know how to separate boycott and gavaskar technically. both looked very good to me. if boycott wants to be known as the better technician, lets give him that. gavaskar will be remembered as the better batsman anyway.
 
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Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Did have a three year sulk & withdrew his test services when he should've been somewhere near his peak.
Was just looking over to see how old he was then; and since he didn't play between 74-77 he would have been 34-37 years old.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
come on. boycott took off for three years from tests after playing international cricket for eleven years from his debut. and then he came back to play for 4 more years. there is no way anyone can say he would be rated higher (or lower) if he had played more.
Had he played more and ended up with more test runs than Sunil Gavaskar, a lot of young cricket fans would rate him higher. It wouldn't make much difference to the people who look beyond the stats like you though for sure.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
come on. boycott took off for three years from tests after playing international cricket for eleven years from his debut. and then he came back to play for 4 more years. there is no way anyone can say he would be rated higher (or lower) if he had played more. he played enough for us to know his caliber. its okay if someone rated him on par with or better than other openers of his era. he retired as the highest run getter in world cricket for god's sake! but he evokes memories of boring, selfish test match batting that will have no place in my books.
I wasn't saying I though he should've played more or less or if it would've had any affect on his career figures, rather I was suggesting why Pratters might say that he should've played more.

Personally I think it was typical of the man to cop out as he did.

Was just looking over to see how old he was then; and since he didn't play between 74-77 he would have been 34-37 years old.
True (almost, he was 33-36, ftr), but he was a late developer. He didn't play first class cricket until he was 22 and, in the two seasons following his comeback he averaged 73.06 in tests, suggesting he was still at the zenith of his powers.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
True (almost, he was 33-36, ftr), but he was a late developer. He didn't play first class cricket until he was 22 and, in the two seasons following his comeback he averaged 73.06 in tests, suggesting he was still at the zenith of his powers.
I am not sure one could say conclusively that he missed out on his peak. Maybe by not playing it helped him to do better the following years? Did he average similarly 2 years prior (when one would say, generally, is the peak for all batsmen 28-32)? It's impressive, I agree, but if I were hearing this as a reason why Gavaskar = Boycott I would be dismissive of it.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Boycott chose three good years to miss - I rather doubt his stats would've been improved had he faced Lillee and Thomson in 74/75 and 75 and the WIndies in 76
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
I am not sure one could say conclusively that he missed out on his peak. Maybe by not playing it helped him to do better the following years? Did he average similarly 2 years prior (when one would say, generally, is the peak for all batsmen 28-32)? It's impressive, I agree, but if I were hearing this as a reason why Gavaskar = Boycott I would be dismissive of it.
I'm not suggesting it as a reason to rate him higher (or lower) than Sunny for one second, merely pointing out he could've played more and the years he missed might have been somewhere near his best. FTR in the two years before his exile he was averaging 47.95, which is as close to his career figure as makes no odds. Output alone didn't suggest he needed a break. The most obvious reason for the self-imposed exile was his fit of pique at Mike Denness being given the captaincy above him.
 

bagapath

International Captain
Boycott chose three good years to miss - I rather doubt his stats would've been improved had he faced Lillee and Thomson in 74/75 and 75 and the WIndies in 76
was just going to say the same thing. think he would've had his moments against them but in general would not have scored tons of runs.

one of the first series i followed featured boycott. oh, jeez what a bore he was! he never seemed to hit the ball. was always nudging it if not playing it with a dead bat. and he would run his runs faster than the partner's. believe me. i wasn't influenced by commentary. it was obvious to anyone older than 5 that geoff played a self-centered game. but i still respect him for saving england's backside on many occasions. just wish he were marginally faster. another 10% increase in scoring pace would've have brought him closer to the gavaskar/dravid/kallis strike rate.
 

TT Boy

Hall of Fame Member
Did have a three year sulk & withdrew his test services when he should've been somewhere near his peak.
At the time, many thought he did a runner because he was scared of pace - He ducked out of facing Lillee for 7 years.

England batsman on the tour of Australia 1974/5 - "Boycott was frightened to death...he missed out on Lillee and Thomson because he knew they were going to hit him. He was very clever." - Letting Rip

And didn't Tony Greig lose the Sussex captaincy for calling out Boycott for not being there?
 

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