Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has slammed Ben Stokes and his side for getting ‘carried away with Bazball’ and not making winning a priority, saying the Ashes are in danger of becoming an exhibition series.
England, who were playing an aggressive brand of cricket under coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Stokes, were defeated by Australia by two wickets earlier this week in Edgbaston.
“England are in danger of reducing the Ashes to an exhibition,” Boycott wrote in his scathing column for ‘The Telegraph’.
“England have got carried away with Bazball and seem to think entertaining is more important than winning. But England supporters want one thing more than anything else — to win the Ashes.”
Winning, according to the legendary cricketer, is more important than entertaining.
“Scoring fast runs, whacking lots of fours and sixes is lovely. It is great. But only if England do not lose sight of the big prize which is to beat Australia. If at the end of the series Australia go home with the Ashes, we will feel sick, regardless of how much we have been entertained.”
Boycott claimed that if England does not play to win, the much-anticipated Ashes series between the two rivals will lose significance.
“If England are not playing to win then these Ashes Tests are not that important. They are only exhibition matches. They have got it back to front. It is not about entertaining and then winning. It is about winning first.
“By all means entertain but cricket is like chess. There are moments when you need to defend. Sometimes you need to be patient and accept it.
“Do not just attack, attack, attack. England need a bit of common sense and pragmatism. That is all that is required. They do not have to change being positive because they are a better side than Australia and will win if they just show that common sense,” he added.
