New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Former England great Geoffrey Boycott has come down heavily on England’s top order, urging them to move beyond the Bazball ideology and show greater discipline with the bat after their latest Test collapse against India

In his Daily Telegraph column, Boycott didn’t mince words, slamming the “stupid over-aggressive shots” from several English batters and singling out Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope for scathing criticism.

“Stop giving your wicket away to stupid over-aggressive shots because you can do better and England want more from you,” wrote Boycott. “The coach Brendon McCullum is on record recently saying that England don’t talk about Bazball and need to finetune their approach to batting. So no excuses any more.”

A notoriously blunt observer of the game, Boycott questioned Zak Crawley’s place in the team, calling time on the opener’s lengthy run despite repeated failures. “How many more chances is Crawley going to get? He has learned nothing in his 57 Tests.

A waft in the first innings caught behind and a front-foot drive in the second innings to a wide sucker ball caught at gully. It was just a replay of too many of his dismissals. Time to go. Five hundreds and an average of 31 is not good enough.”

Ollie Pope, too, was in the firing line, with Boycott accusing him of blindly adhering to the aggressive Bazball approach. “His problem is when he first goes in he is hyperactive, fidgety, like a cat on a hot tin roof. Pope starts like a millionaire, a shot a ball, as if he already has a hundred to his name,” Boycott observed.

“Early on the captain and coach sold Bazball to all the players and Ollie seems to have bought into it 100 percent and is so keen to show he is a disciple. Perhaps he feels he must play positive and aggressively or he won’t keep his place.”

In a pointed piece of advice, Boycott urged Pope to draw inspiration from England’s most reliable batter. “He needs to go back to basic batting which is to assess the situation and bat accordingly, not bat slavishly to an ideology or how he thinks the captain and coach want him to play. Take a look at Joe Root. Joe does his own thing and makes runs and he is the best batsman in the world.”

There have been murmurs in England’s cricketing circles suggesting that Pope could be dropped for young talent Jacob Bethell, while Crawley may survive. Boycott was incensed by that idea. “I hear and read comments about dropping Ollie Pope and replacing him with Jacob Bethell. Pope has done better for England than Crawley. In 59 Tests he averages 35 and has 10 centuries. Yes, with his talent it should be better, but he has played a few remarkable innings to help win matches for England.”

Boycott added a final word of caution about the critical role of a No. 3 batter and how Crawley’s presence at the top impacts the middle order. “A number three is part opening bat if the team loses an early wicket and part middle order… able to play strokes after a good start by the openers. Fat chance of that with Crawley up front. Number three is a very specialist position. Most opposition bowlers can’t wait to get their sweaters off to bowl at him. Can you imagine what the Australian seamers are thinking about this winter’s Ashes series? If Starc doesn’t get you, Hazlewood and Cummins will.”

–IANS

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