File image of Brendon McCullum (centre).© AFP
Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has slammed the England cricket team batters, labelling them "flat track bullies", as they slumped to a 2-1 series defeat against Pakistan. After winning the first Test in Multan, England lost the second and third Test, exposing a glaring weakness against spin bowling. All 40 English wickets across the second and third Tests were taken by spinners, with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali combining for a total of 39 wickets. Boycott sharply criticised the England batting, and the aggressive 'Bazball' approach of batting implemented by coach Brendon McCullum.
"England are flat-track bullies on good batting pitches... spinning pitches demand adjustments," wrote Boycott, writing in his column for The Telegraph UK.
Boycott pointed out the example of Harry Brook to emphasise his point. After slamming a stunning triple hundred in the first Test, Brook's form nosedived miserably.
"A perfect example is Brook. He scored a brilliant 317 in the first Test and in the next four innings he was naive with no idea against spin and totalled 56 runs," wrote Boycott.
After piling up 823 in the first Test, England failed to cross 300 again in any innings of the second and third Test. In the second innings of both the final two Tests, England fell apart for a total of under 150 (144 and 112).
Boycott expressed his fear that these results would be forgotten soon as England will next tour the subcontinent three years later, in 2027.
"The saddest thing is that England do not play in India or Pakistan again on spinning pitches for nearly three years, so our players will quickly be back to being praised by some supporters as the best batsmen England have ever had. All I say to that is you must be kidding," Boycott wrote.
England's series defeat left them 6th in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle table, and massively reduced their chances of making the WTC final.