Last Updated on 5 months ago by Charbel Coorey
The frenzy around The Ashes 2025/26 has taken the cricketing world by storm. The first of the five-match Test series saw Australia beat England by eight wickets with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head ensuring that the hosts started the marquee series on a positive note.
In the meanwhile, the cricket fraternity in England is utterly unhappy with their team’s performance, as several former players and experts have pointed out the fact that the Ben Stokes-led side had the edge after the first day and yet, ended up losing in a rather shocking manner.
Such hostile criticisms shouldn’t come as a shock as this series means a lot to the fans of England and Australia. After all, it is arguably the greatest series in the history of cricket. Several legends rate it as the pinnacle of Test cricket. Whilst The Ashes has seen some amazing performers since its inception, the name of Sir Geoffrey Boycott stands tall even today.
During an exclusive interview with Arvind Kalyana Krishnan for CricBlog, England legend and cricket great Sir Geoffrey Boycott spoke about how much the Ashes meant to him and the English players during his playing days. He stated that playing against the Aussies was of the utmost importance for the Brits for a very long time. Further on, he also spoke about some of his favourite players.
Interestingly, when asked if he rated Jacques Kallis in the same league as Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, Boycott only included the Indian and Windies batters in his list of icons and not Kallis. While acknowledging Virender Sehwag’s record as a red-ball opener, the former England captain was of the opinion that he was poor in England. Boycott also named Alan Knott as his favourite wicket-keeper and said that he judges keepers based on the chances they miss.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott: Alan Knott my favourite wicket-keeper
Boycott, who scored 8,114 Test runs at 47.72, is widely regarded as one of the most respected English cricketers in history.
Below is the entire conversation between Arvind Kalyana Krishnan and Sir Geoffrey Boycott for CricBlog
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: How highly do you rate Jacques Kallis? Considering he was an all-rounder, do you think a case can be made for him to be a greater overall player than the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara in Test cricket?
Sir Geoffrey Boycott: I think there are good players, very good players, a few great players, and then come the elite icons. In my playing and watching years my icons would be Sachin Tendulkar. Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Gary Sobers and maybe Graeme Pollock. Unfortunately Graeme’s Test career was hampered by his Governments apartheid policy so a touch difficult to know how he would have done in India and Pakistan. The food, the travel for months and months, not weeks. West Indies etc. And over many years. I think he would have been fine as I saw a lot of him in South Africa and his Rest of the World performances were good.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: During your playing days, how highly was The Ashes considered in England and in the English team? Can you draw light on how much The Ashes meant to the English players during your time and the build-up to it every time a series against Australia took place?
Sir Geoffrey Boycott: Playing Australia was the biggest and most important series for us English until the great West Indian teams arrived with all their fast bowlers and wonderful batsmen.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: What is your opinion on Virender Sehwag the Test opener? Despite his technical flaws, his record in red-ball cricket is superb. How would you summarize the career of an aggressive Test opener like him?
Sir Geoffrey Boycott: Sehwag an extraordinary talent on certain pitches. Mind blowing at times but again only on certain surfaces only. In England he was poor.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: Your all-time favourite wicket-keeper/wicket-keepers?
Sir Geoffrey Boycott: Alan Knott. Why? Because wicket-keepers stats regarding catches/stumpings depend on the bowlers creating chances for him. Therefore I base my judgement on how many he misses. Very rare in his case. His batting……He was a touch unorthodox but got runs when it mattered and many times when his team were under pressure.
