Geoff Boycott 137 v Australia 6th Test 1981 at The Oval

[@volt7cooltangs701]

Jesus, Sir Geoffrey & Chris Tavare at the crease at the same time. I saw a movie about that once. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

[@rootangent2464]

I didn't notice that Jesus was at the crease. Or were you calling the Lords name invain? Shame if you were.

[@volt7cooltangs701]

Klaatu Barada Nikto

[@dadofjerem]

And Mike Whitney bowling

[@dadofjerem]

Only 2 batsmen can be at the crease though. The son of god was a carpenter he may have been able to make the equipment

[@vantheman1238]

Sir Geoffrey getting hit on the jaw by Dennis Lillee. Did he give up and throw his wicket away. No he carried on batting. Carried on scoring runs. What a great player.

[@naaveenmahadeshwar7889]

❤️ SIR GEAFORRY ! BY THE BOOK THAT WAS HIM ! THE WALL OF ENGLAND ❤️🙏FROM INDIA

[@stevebrindle1724]

I remember Geoff Boycott pulling England out of trouble so many times! Some complained he scored slowly but it's not how long it takes you but how many runs you score!

[@Richard0470]

Interesting Test this, Boycott a true masterclass in the 1st innings, a duck in the 2nd, in his last home Test, Brearley and Knott's last Tests, Parker's only Test and the start of two lengthy absences : Larkins next Test came some 8 & a half years later, Whitney's some 6 & a half..Alderman on the other hand simply carried on where he left off in this Test when he next played a Test in England in 1989 - another 40 plus wicket series, that time in a winning cause

[@dlamiss]

Excellent post. Lillee produced his best bowling figures in England in this game also. I always thought IN ENGLISH CONDITIONS Terry Alderman was the best fast/fast medium bowler ive seen in the 50 years ive been watching cricket. He was unplayable at times

[@MrDunkiep]

​​@@dlamissYep. Hadlee and Marshall in the mid/late eighties also spring to mind.

[@dlamiss]

I always thought as good as Hadlee was, some of the pitches were doctored in his favour. When Notts won the championship in 81 the square was more often than not as green as the outfield

[@MrDunkiep]

@@dlamiss 🤣. Yes, with Clive Rice and Franklyn Stephenson as well, they had some quality overseas seamers to bowl there.

[@dlamiss]

Franklyn WHAT a player and also a great golfer as well

[@davidrowe3992]

Imagine taking one in the face from Dennis Lillee and just... carrying on. Say what you like about Boycott, but he was tough.

[@volt7cooltangs701]

Built them Hard in those days.

[@11hitmanDagenius]

Mah dong is built hard these days

[@stevenhendry-yq5zy]

Think it hit the plastic guard

[@alanprior7650]

Nearly 32 years ago...proper 🏏 cricket I was about 11 years old and my dad tried teaching me about it. I got there,eventually, lol.

[@Deira854]

Lol RIP Math. It's 42 years

[@markh9749]

Boycott, in his later test years, made a pronounced crouching move back and across his stumps that further restricted his stroke play and left him more vulnerable, in my view, to short pitched fast bowling aimed in to the body. He was both more square on and less able to duck or sway inside the line of the rising ball. Boycott was a brave batsman. He didn't flinch when hit, but he did get hit more often. At this stage of his career the pull and hook shots were not in his repertoire and he played much less off the front foot in the arc between cover and midwicket. The century he scored here at The Oval was an important one. Without it, he may not have been included in the tour party to India in 1981/2.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

You mean the Boycott who scored 137 against Lillee and Co. in this very video, including pull and hook shots. That Boycott? Interesting. You claim that he was somehow at risk of being dropped for the India tour, land of fast and bouncy tracks I can safely infer you believe, of '81/2 for what you consider to be his technical shortcomings. That is patently ridiculous. It's certainly not supported by statistics or by the actual circumstances. The only serious risk of him being left out would have been if the Indian government had stood its ground about not allowing Boycott and Geoff Cooke entry to the country because of their South African links (echoes of the Robin Jackman crisis a year earlier in Guyana) forcing a tour cancellation and a worldwide international cricket crisis. But back down they did, with a few concessions from the TCCB, including, importantly for some players like Gooch, the promise of severe penalties for anyone thinking of touring SA. As it transpired, Boycott quit the tour after the fourth test due to ill health and because of the ongoing Yorkshire captaincy saga, as he says in his 1987 autobiography. He was tired, unwell, frustrated, and thoroughly disillusioned. He ended his own test career and then signed-up - late - for the rebel tour which. The tour, still a closely guarded secret at the start of '82, had been known about for over a year by all the test playing group of the day including the utterly hypocritical Willis, Botham, and Gower, by the time of the India tour, and by the time Boycott was first approached. The point is that his test career ended because he quit the India tour for the reasons given, not because he had somehow forgotten how to play fast bowling. In point of fact, in the 1982 county season, with all his problems at Yorkshire, his batting record was still outstanding; presumably, he dealt with the plethora of overseas fast bowlers inhabiting country cricket in those days rather well. The moral of this story, I suppose, is that anyone can be an armchair expert about the techniques of elite sportsmen. That's part of the fun. But you should always make sure you get your facts straight!

[@sauron2000000]

​@@Ingens_Scherz I had no idea Boycs had SA roots.

[@ronaldmangal2338]

You sound like a good batsman.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

Hang on. You can't claim Botham, Willis and Gower knew about the rebel tour for over a year then claim Boycott only knew about it after his withdrawal from the India tour. He was slated for going off to play golf in the middle of a Test on that India tour and rightly so. He already knew he was going off to SA.

[@geoffw1209]

What a catch by Yallop to dismiss Boycott!

[@dadofjerem]

Tavere didn’t wait around as he knew how much Boycott hated those kind of dismissals didn’t want to look back

[@timhoward5863]

Boycott was disciplined, technically near perfect and brave. What a contrast to England's current openers.

[@RakeshMisra-oc2tj]

Bravery is the first quality of an OPENER.

[@markhayward7400]

"But for him, England would have been in dreadful trouble". These words here (by summariser, Tom Graveney, on Boycott's dismissal) are an epitaph for Geoff Boycott's test match career. England never lost a test match in which Boycott scored a century (and only 20 of the 108 test matches in which he played).

[@philipmccarthy8415]

2 great English cricketers

[@kingcurry6594]

Was Mike Brearley the worst player ever to represent England as a specialist batsman? I can't think of anyone more inept, whatever his qualities as a captain.

[@jameswebb4593]

Never a test batsman or captain. He had the right pedigree so beloved by the MCC . Cambridge and Middlesex

[@dadofjerem]

Why did gatting not shake boycotts hand?

[@gopalakrishnaravulapalli1369]

Great upload

[@mikelewis1436]

Not a bad performance by a 41-year-old supposedly afraid of fast bowling...

[@johnmifsud6814]

He barely played an attractive or forceful shot - all his runs were nudges and nicks through slips. Compare this to the great Viv Richards who murdered all bowlers.

[@vantheman1238]

⁠@@johnmifsud6814do you know anything about cricket? What a moronic comment to compare Boycott with Viv Richards. Boycott was 41 here and playing test cricket in his third decade. Earlier in the year Boycott had scored a hundred against the West Indies. Holding, Croft and Garner on that occasion. A word to the wise from someone who knows the game. Do Not Make Ridiculous Comments!

[@anthonydent5798]

​@@vantheman1238Correct. And although Viv was undoubtedly a great player he didn't have to face the West Indian attack. Geoff did at the age of 40.

[@mikespurgeon3345]

​@johnmifsud6814 thanks for the laugh....

[@stevenwade7466]

​@@johnmifsud6814He still put runs on the board & that's all that matters

[@abdulrahmanghouri6652]

Lillee is very proud man and misbehavior man he is not like visit to Asia country like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka ect and he never well performance show in Asia country.

[@RakeshMisra-oc2tj]

Yes. He was not greatest. According to top India batsmen - He was not greatest. Holding, Imran, Marshall, Akram was greater than Lilee.

[@mqb5151]

Tavare and boycott...this shouldn't have been allowed in test cricket...