Geoffrey Boycott lashes out at Joe Root's England
Former England cricketer, Geoffrey Boycott, has lashed out at Joe Root's men, who are currently involved in a 5-match Test series against India. The television pundit claimed that the present England Test side has gone backwards and called England's batting rubbish. England, once again, struggled with the bat on Day 1 of the fourth Test at Southampton. Here is more on the same.
Boycott feels England's batting lacks confidence
According to the BBC, Boycott claimed that, "It's not a solid batting line-up. You just don't have confidence." The television commentator who returned to the box after a heart surgery added that, "If you can't bat, you are always up against it." The former cricketer opined that the side isn't going forward in finding proper Test batsmen.
England haven't fared well with the bat
In the last 63 innings over a period of three years, the English Test side have lost 4 wickets for 100 runs or lesser in 32 innings. This tells the sorry state of affairs. The biggest issue for England is that their top order haven't managed to score bulk of runs on a consistent basis. They have been overcome by opposition even at home.
England's batsmen have fared poorly against India
England's batsmen, in the ongoing series against India, have fared poorly. It's shocking that at home conditions, the quartet of the batsmen have struggled. Only Jonny Bairstow (212) and Sam Curran (202) have managed to go past 200+ runs so far. Openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings haven't hit the three-figure mark in six innings. Overall the runs haven't come.
Where has England's skipper Joe Root disappeared?
India's skipper Virat Kohli has managed 440 runs across six innings in conditions away from home. His counterpart Root has been a shadow of himself at home. Besides a solitary innings of 80, Root has only managed 66 runs across five innings including the one at Southampton. He averages a mere 24.33 in this series and that's terrible for a batsman of his calibre.
Boycott's claim makes sense
Boycott is puzzled with head coach Trevor Bayliss and batting coach Mark Ramprakash. He stated that he is unsure about what the two are doing especially with Bayliss, himself, being a former batsman. He also felt that quality in County has gone down especially after since Jonny Bairstow had to come out to bat at number 4. The time is running away for England.
