Who do you think is more boring to watch? Geoff Boycott or Ken Barrington?
Barrington was definitely more pleasant to watch, Boycott would be even more dour to watch.
In the 1950s, when Barrington was a young Surrey Batsman, he was actually a dashing strokemaker, likened to Denis Compton by many but his natural game just didn't get success, at 27-28 Years old, Barrington was barely averaging 30 odd in First Class Cricket despite having all the shots in his arsenal, and he was not even considered for the English national team, that is when he transformed and re-invented his batting style to be way more defensive, which wasn't his choice, he was asked to do so by Peter May and Sir Alec Bedser, and in just one season, his fortunes changed, 30 became 50. He would still have shades of his older self, would often launch the ball for a six to make a hundred and play strokes when got the chance.
Boycott was a defensive batsman from moment one, He neglected his own talents and skills, he thought it was his job to see the shine off the ball, when Tom Graveney heard that Boycott thought of his role as so little, he found it absurd that someone of Boycott's capability thought he just had to take the shine off the ball. Graveney thought a Boycott who let himself go would be up there with the immortals but that was to never materalise, that's not to say Boycott didn't attack when he could but he never even entertained the thought of being a strokemaker for large amounts of time, He would never have a party trick that involved a six to bring up a century.
Personal opinion is that Boycott and Barrington were both pretty similar, in quality and in style, neither had the self belief to really be an all time great and both didn't have the same sense of self great batsmen generally have, both were defensive, both were dropped in their careers atleast once for playing too slow, Barrington had a better average but Boycott achieved a much longer career and had more marquee performances at home and away from home, Barrington was a genuinely good person and was loved by everyone around him but was always internally battling with depression and anxiety, Boycott is not a very good person and was hated by everyone but ended up living a happier life, one thing their personalities shared was their iron will, both were fighters and never gave in. Both of them have similarities in a lot of things, and contrast at certain points as well.
