146 Facts About Geoffrey Boycott

Geoffrey Boycott made his international debut in a 1964 test match against Australia.

Geoffrey Boycott was known for his ability to occupy the crease and became a key feature of England's Test batting line-up for many years, although he was less successful in his limited One Day International appearances.

Geoffrey Boycott revived his commentating career in 2003, attracting both criticism and praise.

Geoffrey Boycott is a former member of BBC Radio 4 Test Match Special commentary team and retired in 2020.

Geoffrey Boycott was born in the mining village of Fitzwilliam, near Wakefield and Pontefract in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Geoffrey Boycott was the eldest of three sons of Jane and Thomas Wilfred Boycott, a colliery worker from Little Dawley, Shropshire.

When Geoffrey Boycott was eight years old, he was impaled through his chest by the handle of a mangle after falling off an iron railing near his home.

Geoffrey Boycott nearly died, and in the efforts to save his life, his spleen was removed.

Geoffrey Boycott began to play cricket at an early age in Fitzwilliam's terraced streets, using a manhole for the wicket.

In 1958, Geoffrey Boycott left school with seven O-level passes and the school's Individual Cricket Cup.

Geoffrey Boycott told the BBC in 1965 that he chose to leave school at 17 because he no longer wished to be a financial strain on his parents, and because he wanted to pursue his cricketing career.

Geoffrey Boycott worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance in Barnsley from 1958 to 1963, at the same time playing for a number of cricket clubs.

Geoffrey Boycott captained the South Elmsall district team and achieved a batting average of 70.

Geoffrey Boycott played for the Yorkshire Federation's Under-18 team and for Barnsley, where he was noticed by Clifford Hesketh, a member of Yorkshire's County Cricket team committee.

Geoffrey Boycott began playing for his home county in 1962 after topping the averages for Leeds, Yorkshire Colts and Yorkshire Second XI.

Geoffrey Boycott twice averaged over 100 in an English first-class season: 100.12 in 1971, and 102.53 in 1979.

Geoffrey Boycott is one of only two players to have achieved this twice, Mark Ramprakash was the other.

Geoffrey Boycott was appointed captain of Yorkshire in 1971, but was sacked in 1978 after failing to win a trophy while in charge.

Geoffrey Boycott was then dismissed as a player, but reinstated after a members' revolt.

In one match against Scarborough, Geoffrey Boycott faced a delivery from Bill Foord which he dispatched to the boundary for four.

Geoffrey Boycott made his Yorkshire first-team debut on 16 June 1962 against the Pakistan touring team.

Early in his career, Geoffrey Boycott continued to play in his spectacles, and later switched to contact lenses.

Geoffrey Boycott feared his career would have ended had he not used such aids as his eyesight was poor.

Geoffrey Boycott's century was part of a 249-run fourth-wicket partnership which became a Yorkshire record.

Geoffrey Boycott cemented his place in the Yorkshire XI in the 1963 season with successive scores of 76,53,49 not out and 50, and on 29 August made a century partnership in both innings of a match against Leicestershire with Ken Taylor.

Geoffrey Boycott handed in his notice to the Ministry of Pensions that same year.

Geoffrey Boycott went on to hit his highest score thus far, 165 not out, against Leicestershire, and ended his first full season with 1,446 runs at an average of 46.64, placing him second in the 1963 national batting averages.

At the start of the 1964 season Geoffrey Boycott hit 151 against Middlesex, followed by another hundred against Lancashire in May, and then played for the Marylebone Cricket Club against the Australian touring side at Lord's, where he scored 63.

Geoffrey Boycott ended the season top of the national averages for the first time.

Geoffrey Boycott captained Yorkshire for eight seasons from 1971 to 1978, having been appointed following the sacking of Brian Close in 1970.

Geoffrey Boycott caused strife between his fellow players, including a reciprocated dislike for Richard Hutton, with many players leaving the club citing personal differences with Boycott as the reason for their departure.

Geoffrey Boycott played only one match scoring 107 and 41.

Geoffrey Boycott's success was cited by Trueman as evidence that his selfish nature was harming Yorkshire.

Geoffrey Boycott headed the national batting averages in 1972 with 72.35, and was second in 1973 with 63.62.

Geoffrey Boycott was coming into increased conflict with Richard Hutton, Close, and several members of the committee and senior players.

Geoffrey Boycott finished the season with an average of over 50.00 for a record eleventh consecutive year, surpassing the achievement of Jack Hobbs.

Geoffrey Boycott shared a record opening partnership of 351 with Martyn Moxon.

Geoffrey Boycott advised the then captain to enforce the follow-on, and did not bat again.

Since 1984, support for Geoffrey Boycott had waned in light of his slow scoring, multiple injuries and the general atmosphere around him.

Geoffrey Boycott was offered contracts by other counties, including Derbyshire and Glamorgan, but he never took these offers up, nor played professional cricket again.

Geoffrey Boycott was the first England cricketer to pass 8,000 Test runs and, as of 2015, is seventh on England's all-time run scoring list.

Geoffrey Boycott was very good indeed, though he was a grafter who was more likely to win you a game on a bad wicket.

Geoffrey Boycott began his Test career on 4 June 1964, only two years after his first-class debut, in the first Test against Australia.

Geoffrey Boycott top scored with 48 runs from 118 deliveries before he was bowled by Grahame Corling.

The match ended as a rain-affected draw, and Geoffrey Boycott did not bat in the second innings as he had suffered a cracked finger.

Geoffrey Boycott made 58 at Old Trafford, and then hit 113 at The Oval, his maiden Test century.

Geoffrey Boycott finished his first Test series with 291 runs at 48.50.

Geoffrey Boycott's innings included scores of 73 in the opening Test, 76 in the fourth, and 117 in the fifth and final match.

Geoffrey Boycott made a mixed impression on the other England players, who were impressed by his talent but perplexed by his introverted attitude each time he was dismissed.

Against New Zealand, Geoffrey Boycott scored 23 and 44 not out in the first Test at Edgbaston and 76 in the second at Lord's, but missed the third Test owing to injury.

Geoffrey Boycott returned to the team at the end of the season for the tour to Australia.

Geoffrey Boycott then hit a form of "brighter cricket" during the First and Second Tests.

Geoffrey Boycott's form deserted him again when the MCC went on to tour New Zealand.

Geoffrey Boycott was omitted from the first Test, but shared a partnership of 115 with Tom Graveney.

Batting for 573 minutes, Geoffrey Boycott struck thirty fours and a six at a strike rate of 44.32.

Geoffrey Boycott began his innings slowly, taking six hours over his first 106 runs; he scored 17 in the first hour and 8 in the second.

Geoffrey Boycott did not bat in the second innings and England won by six wickets.

Geoffrey Boycott's slow scoring led to increasing media pressure, and owing to his perceived selfish attitude, he was dropped from the team after the match.

In 1967, Geoffrey Boycott toured the West Indies with England, where he hit a rich seam of form.

Geoffrey Boycott was left out of the first three Tests against the World XI in 1970; he played in the fourth and scored 15 and 64, and in the final Test of the summer scored 157.

Geoffrey Boycott won the Walter Lawrence Trophy for this century.

Geoffrey Boycott scored 173 in the opening first-class game, followed by 124 against Queensland.

The Fifth Test was drawn, Geoffrey Boycott making 12 and 76*, and in the Sixth Test he was run out for 58.

Geoffrey Boycott initially refused to leave the ground in disbelief, and eventually walked off to jeering from the crowd.

Geoffrey Boycott made 119 in the second innings but injured his arm against fast bowler Garth McKenzie in a following one-day match and missed the final Test, when England retained the Ashes.

Geoffrey Boycott later maintained that the injury permanently affected his wrist, and that he carried a squash ball in a sock in his pocket, which he could squeeze to keep his wrist strong.

Geoffrey Boycott ended the series with 657 Test runs at 93.85.

In 1971, Geoffrey Boycott made his One Day International debut against Australia, the press by then touting him as the best batsman in the world.

Geoffrey Boycott was the first batsman to receive a ball in a one-day international and his was the first wicket to fall, after he had scored eight runs from 37 balls.

Geoffrey Boycott played only two Tests in 1972 owing to a series of injuries, but rejoined the team in the West Indies under Denness's captaincy.

Between 1974 and 1977, Geoffrey Boycott elected to make himself unavailable for England.

Geoffrey Boycott said in 2006 that he had simply lost his appetite for Test cricket and the stress became too much for him.

Geoffrey Boycott was very critical of Denness's captaincy and his standard of batting in his autobiography in 1987, citing it as a factor in his decision, along with the pressures at Yorkshire.

Geoffrey Boycott's weak immune system was a recurring motivation for not touring the Indian subcontinent.

In 1987 the BBC aired a drama about the exile years called Our Geoff written by Andrew Nikold with Geoffrey Boycott being played by Patrick Malahide.

When Geoffrey Boycott returned to the Test side against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1977 he ran out Derek Randall in front of his home crowd before going on to make a century.

Geoffrey Boycott reached the milestone from the bowling of Greg Chappell with an on drive for four.

Geoffrey Boycott ended the series with 442 runs at an average of 147.33.

Geoffrey Boycott later stated that, as the number-one batsman, he should have the most time in the middle.

Geoffrey Boycott led England to a draw in the third match, his leadership receiving mixed reviews.

Geoffrey Boycott took seven hours and 22 minutes to score 77 runs in the first innings, and in the second innings England were bowled out for 64 when chasing 137 to win.

Geoffrey Boycott told his team that he would play the way he always had, and proceeded to accumulate runs very slowly.

Geoffrey Boycott then delayed his declaration, much to the frustration of England bowler Bob Willis.

Geoffrey Boycott then played in the 1979 Cricket World Cup held in England, taking two wickets in the opening match against Australia, which England won.

Geoffrey Boycott ended the competition with the sixth highest strike rate of 42.99 and an average of 23.00.

Geoffrey Boycott scored 70 in the opening match, the only England player to pass 50.

Geoffrey Boycott was hit on the gloves by the first delivery, played-and-missed the second outside off stump, was hit on the thigh by the third, fended the next two deliveries away with his bat, and was then bowled by the final delivery.

Geoffrey Boycott's career run total was now 7,410, gaining on Gary Sobers' record of 8,032.

Geoffrey Boycott then played in the 1981 Ashes series, despite being aged 40.

Geoffrey Boycott had scored only 10 and 37 in the Fifth Test; however, in the drawn Sixth Test at The Oval he scored 137, passing Colin Cowdrey's record of 7624 runs and becoming England's highest run-scorer.

Geoffrey Boycott ended the series behind only Botham, with 392 runs at 32.66.

Geoffrey Boycott claimed in his autobiography that he went to the golf course following medical advice to get fresh air.

Cricket commentator and statistician Simon Hughes states that Geoffrey Boycott is fastidious in the commentary box, always immaculately dressed, and never socialises with the other commentators or production staff.

Geoffrey Boycott was animated, intelligent, informed, with opinions that got the attention of most people.

Geoffrey Boycott laid claim to coining the phrase "corridor of uncertainty" as a reference to the area outside the off stump where a batsman is unsure whether he should leave or hit the ball and was noted for using a key to measure the hardness of the pitch, until this was outlawed by the International Cricket Council.

Geoffrey Boycott continued to commentate for the station, along with various satellite and Asian channels, until 2003, when his career was further threatened by throat cancer.

In November 2005, Geoffrey Boycott re-joined the BBC's Test Match Special to provide commentary for England's 2005 tour of Pakistan.

Geoffrey Boycott delivered the 2005 Colin Cowdrey Lecture, speaking about the need for cricket to adapt to changing circumstances and embrace innovations like Twenty20.

Geoffrey Boycott has been credited as having a high level of influence in the game, with Yorkshire's Chief Executive Stewart Regan crediting Geoffrey Boycott over the completion of a deal for Younis Khan to play county cricket for Yorkshire in the 2007 season.

Geoffrey Boycott stated that he believed Brian Close and the other selectors to be living in "past times", and that he wished to encourage a growth in the number of players from Pakistan, the West Indies and India.

In 2014, Geoffrey Boycott described Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir as "rubbish" based on his performances when the Indian team toured England in 2014.

Nevertheless, Geoffrey Boycott has enjoyed a successful commentating career, and his opinions are sought across a number of cricketing media.

Geoffrey Boycott is popular among cricket pundits and biographers, being the subject of three significant biographies from 1982 to 2000, while his comments are reproduced across a number of published cricketing quotes collections.

In June 2020, Geoffrey Boycott announced his retirement from Test Match Special, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and his heart surgery as the reasons.

In 1996, Geoffrey Boycott was accused of assault by Margaret Moore, a former lover.

Geoffrey Boycott denied the charges, claiming she had fallen over and injured herself.

Geoffrey Boycott pointed to the fact that Moore was in financial difficulties and said that he would never hit a woman.

Geoffrey Boycott was criticised by the magistrate for the way he conducted his case and for "rudely interrupting" Mrs Moore's barrister.

In September 2019, the magistrate who convicted Geoffrey Boycott recalled that "he was arrogant and he had a deplorable attitude throughout the trial".

When he again appealed against his conviction, Moore's version of events that Geoffrey Boycott had attacked her by punching her in the face, causing bruising, was upheld, in the light of photographs of her injuries shown to the court and the testimony of a doctor that the injuries could not have been caused in the way described by Geoffrey Boycott.

Geoffrey Boycott refused to pay the sum demanded, stating he "considered it to be blackmail".

Geoffrey Boycott was sacked from his columnist's job in The Sun, which announced the dismissal in an article on the front page with the headline "Sun Sacks Boycott the Brute", although The Sun had given Boycott an undertaking in writing that they would continue to employ him regardless of the result of the court case, as had Talk Sport.

Geoffrey Boycott's commentating career continued, as he was able to carry on working overseas, particularly in India.

Geoffrey Boycott hosted The Sunny and Boycs Show with Sunil Gavaskar and he hosted the touring Indian team at his home in August 2002.

Geoffrey Boycott worked in South Africa and coached the Pakistan cricket team upon request.

Geoffrey Boycott still has his moments, like when the taxi does not arrive and he is not happy, as he makes extremely clear.

In September 2004, Geoffrey Boycott wrote for The Daily Telegraph a posthumous tribute to lifelong friend Brian Clough.

In 2004, it was reported in The Yorkshire Post that Geoffrey Boycott was supporting the United Kingdom Independence Party in that year's election for the European Parliament.

In early 2008, there was speculation that Geoffrey Boycott would be given a role on the England coaching staff, pertaining in particular to the coaching of Andrew Flintoff back from injury.

Geoffrey Boycott used to give informal talks to younger cricket players during his career, and the media speculated that he might find a place coaching the England U19s.

Geoffrey Boycott continued in his commentating career for TMS, criticising the England team's approach to the ODI matches under Pietersen in India in November 2008.

Geoffrey Boycott continued to be an active member of the cricket community, voicing his support in late April 2009 for Pakistan player Saeed Ajmal, and calling for the legalisation of the doosra spin-bowling delivery.

Geoffrey Boycott levelled criticism in July 2009 against Kevin Pietersen for his captaincy difficulties and in September against Andrew Flintoff for his apparent favour of club cricket over internationals.

On 29 November 2009, Geoffrey Boycott was commentating an ODI between England and South Africa when he was heard swearing on air following a catch taken by Paul Collingwood that dismissed Ryan McLaren.

On 19 August 2017, during an interval question and answer session on day 3 of the England v West Indies Test at Edgbaston, Geoffrey Boycott stated he was more likely to get a knighthood if he "blacked his face".

Geoffrey Boycott later stated that his comment had been "clearly wrong" and stated he had "utmost respect" for West Indian cricket players.

In March 2012, Geoffrey Boycott was elected President of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

The election came on the back of Yorkshire's relegation from the first to the second division of the County Championship, the reversal of which Geoffrey Boycott targeted immediately upon taking up the post.

Geoffrey Boycott's playing style revolved around intense concentration, solid defence and attention to detail, while avoiding heavy hitting or slogging.

Geoffrey Boycott dedicated his life to the art of batting, practising assiduously and eschewing any shot that might even hint at threatening the loss of his wicket.

Nevertheless, Geoffrey Boycott maintained an "impeccable" defensive technique, and possessed a temperament ideally suited for five-day Test matches.

Geoffrey Boycott was occasionally vulnerable to left-arm bowlers, either due to his inability to adjust his line of stroke or because during his career there were few fast left-hand bowlers for him to practise against in the nets.

Geoffrey Boycott was never a genuine all-rounder, but took seven wickets at Test level at an average of 54.57, often bowling wearing his cap turned back-to-front to assist his vision.

At the start of his career, Geoffrey Boycott was a below average fielder, having received no coaching on this from Yorkshire and with little inclination to rectify it when concentrating on his batting.

Geoffrey Boycott became a safe pair of hands generally at cover point, though he continued to lack power and pace in the field, never taking more than two catches in a Test innings, and averaging 0.170 dismissals per innings with 33 career catches in all.

Geoffrey Boycott has written a number of works on cricket, including his own autobiography and a joint project on the biography of umpire Dickie Bird:.

Geoffrey Boycott is the seventh most capped player for England in Tests, and has the sixth highest career runs total in Tests for an England player, 8114.

Geoffrey Boycott was the fourteenth quickest player to reach 8,000 runs, taking 190 innings.

Geoffrey Boycott topped the national averages for six seasons, the highest of any post-World War II player, and is tied for third in the list of centuries for England behind only Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen.

Geoffrey Boycott was the first player to score 99 not out, and the first to score 99 and then a century in a Test match.

In 1977 against Australia, Geoffrey Boycott became the first England player to bat on all five days of a Test match on his return to international cricket at Trent Bridge.

Geoffrey Boycott spent the 629 minutes at the crease for 191 runs in 1977.

Geoffrey Boycott opened the batting in the other four Tests in that series.

Geoffrey Boycott did face the first One-Day International ball ever bowled, and was the first batsman to be dismissed in what was the first ever ODI game.

Geoffrey Boycott is mentioned in a verse of the Roy Harper song "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease", from the album HQ, though the album was renamed after the song for its release in the United States.

Geoffrey Boycott is mentioned in the last episode of Fawlty Towers, entitled "Basil the Rat".