“He has learned nothing” - Geoffrey Boycott slams England batter for his poor batting technique

Former England cricketer and commentator Geoffrey Boycott has come out openly to criticize the English opening batter Zak Crawley for his poor returns in the ongoing Test series against India.

While he scored 69 runs in the Leeds Test, he couldn't create an impact on the flat track in Birmingham, scoring 19 and 0 in both innings as England lost by 336 runs with India levelling the series 1-1.

"I don’t think he (Zak Crawley) can change or get better. Batting is in the head and the brain dictates how you approach batting: what shots you attempt, what balls you leave. His faults in technique and thinking are ingrained. A leopard doesn’t change his spots, or maybe Zak does not want to change. He should be approaching his best years but in 56 Tests he has learned nothing,” Geoffrey Boycott wrote in his column for ‘The Telegraph’.

Furthermore, Boycott also highlighted the struggles in Crawley’s batting technique, stating that the two balls he got out to in Birmingham as awful. In 56 Tests, Crawley has scored 3111 runs at an average of 31.11 with only five centuries and 17 fifties.

"Just when you think the penny has dropped for Zak Crawley he resorts to his old bad ways. At Headingley, he played straight with the full face of the bat, left wide balls and let the ball come to him so he could keep his bat close to his pad. The two shots he got out to at Edgbaston were awful. In the first innings his feet got stuck in cement, neither forward nor back, and then he wafted at the ball to be caught at slip. Second innings, he batted on off stump and drove at a well pitched up ball two feet wide. He did not need to play it."

Additionally, Boycott also shared a few words on the Test captain Ben Stokes not living up to the expectations with his willow. He reckoned that Stokes is currently short of runs and a touch of confidence. He could score only 86 runs from four innings in the ongoing Test series.

"It is not helping England that Stokes is in such poor form with the bat. When he is playing well he is a dynamic, match-winning batsman. He can thump seam or spin to all parts of the ground. We have seen him do it magnificently. But he does have a problem on a wearing pitch when the ball turns and occasionally jumps,” he stated.

"The great batsman like Joe Root, who play the turning ball well, are usually sideways on, stay back and wait for the ball and are able to manoeuvre their hands. What makes it much harder for Ben at the moment is he has had very little match batting so is short of runs and a touch of confidence,” he concluded.

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