As the headlines that followed his recent knighthood showed, Geoffrey Boycott remains one of the most controversial as well as one of the most recognisable figures in the game. This superb portrait followed his retirement and appeared in the 1988 Wisden.
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Geoffrey Boycott, an egocentric right-handed batsman of great defensive skills and an occasional in-swing bowler, will be remembered as much for his prodigious scoring record as for his impact, over 25 years, perhaps more, on the history of the Yorkshire county club. He has a facility for making enemies much faster than he made his runs, admits to very few friends, yet inspires a loyalty among his admirers that all politicians must envy.
👑 Sir Andrew Strauss
👑 Sir Geoffrey BoycottA massive congratulations to two England cricket legends who have been awarded knighthoods. pic.twitter.com/JZitUOiU9n
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 10, 2019
As a cricketer, a batsman converted to opening in his early days with Yorkshire, he had no peers in England during his career. Abroad, only Sunil Gavaskar, the man who overtook Boycott’s aggregate of Test-match runs, could be compared in application, dedication, attention to detail, tactical acumen, patience and endurance. Even Boycott’s critics would agree, too, that his runs were made often in far more difficult circumstances, in English conditions and on English pitches, than Gavaskar’s. In batting on seaming or turning pitches, or when the ball cut or swung, Boycott for more than twenty years reigned supreme in the world.
This ability to score runs, albeit slowly, when all around him were grateful merely to survive, indicated that Boycott was far from limited in his strokeplay. All the shots were there, but only rarely was the full armoury uncovered; when he did settle upon an attacking innings, however, the ensuing firework display could be a brilliant memory. Three occasions come to mind, the first a brief burst at Bradford in 1977, when Yorkshire were chasing runs on the third afternoon against Northamptonshire and Boycott, astonishingly, was charging from his crease to lift the bowling straight. There was a humid Sunday afternoon at Worcester, where Boycott produced a dazzling 60 at a rate not even Milburn would have scorned.
Yet when his career is fully assessed and settled into the record, early next century, will all his foibles and prejudices matter that much? A batting record that stretches, vast and almost unsurpassable, like a distant view of the Himalayas, must put much pettiness into perspective, leaving all the discord in his wake no more than the odd trickle down a great stone face.
