England’s Harry Brook (AP Photo)
Boycott, who played 108 Tests and 36 ODIs for England, has been particularly critical of Brook’s approach in Test cricket. range of shots and reach, the former England captain believes Brook’s decision-making and tendency to approach Test deliveries like a white-ball batter are preventing him from fulfilling his enormous potential While acknowledging his exceptional timing.
In the first Test against Pakistan at Headingley, Brook scored 91, before making 15 in the ongoing Test at Lord’s.
“I’ve said before and I’ll say again, I’ve seen a lot of players. The timing, the shot playing, he’s tall, big reach, but his thinking is just unbelievable,” Boycott said in the ‘Geoffrey Boycott: An Extraordinary Innings’ podcast. To be up in that stratosphere is huge,” Boycott said. Brook’s uncle approached him last year and asked whether he would speak to the England batter, according to Boycott. Boycott said he was happy to help if Brook wanted his advice, but he did not want to impose himself. “His uncle came to me last year and he said, ‘Would you have a word with him? I told him exactly this. He said, ‘Really? I said, ‘Yeah. I said that much ability is rare, special. “He said, ‘Would you have a word with him? I said, ‘It’s not for me to go to him. He might tell me to, you know, off,’ I said. I gave him my number and never heard a word,” Boycott said.
I haven’t seen anybody with the talent he’s got for a long time. Enormous talent. “If he wants to carry on playing that way, he’ll have a decent career, but he has the ability, if he could think better, to be in the realms of Lara and Tendulkar. And, whoa, that’s a bit special. Boycott’s criticism centres on what he sees as Brook’s inability to make the necessary adjustment between white-ball and Test cricket. Brook is also England’s white-ball captain, and Boycott believes the aggressive instincts that have served him in limited-overs cricket can become a liability in the longer format. Well, he asked me what I thought of him. But if he asked me, of course I’d help. Why would I not?