London, May 28 (PTI) Legendary Geoffrey Boycott remains unconvinced that England’s Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have overcome their “technical and mental issues” despite scoring centuries against Zimbabwe, insisting that their real challenge will come in next month’s five-Test series against India.
Crawley has endured a tough few months, struggling in New Zealand where he averaged under nine and fell to Matt Henry in all six innings.
Pope, too, had a rollercoaster 2024. His brilliant 196 in the opening Test against India in Hyderabad stands among the finest overseas knocks by an Englishman, but he has been extremely inconsistent since.
“We cannot say suddenly that Crawley and Pope have solved the technical and mental issues that have dogged their careers because the Zimbabwe bowling was so average,” the former English opener wrote in his column for the ‘Daily Telegraph’.
England’s top-three of Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Pope all struck dominant hundreds as the hosts piled up 565/6 declared against what Boycott termed a Zimbabwean “club-bowling” attack, en route to an innings and 45-run victory in the recently concluded one-off Test.
“They were medium pacers not good enough or consistent enough to expose any flaws in Crawley and Pope’s batting. We will have to wait until the India series to see if there really is any improvement against better bowlers. That will be the real test and give us a better idea of where they stand.”
The 84-year-old however acknowledged that the runs would boost confidence for England’s top-order.
“The top three of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope made hundreds. Well done. It is not their fault the bowling was so poor.
“It was exactly what any batsman wants early season: easy runs. Runs breeds confidence, confidence sets you up for the summer. Form and confidence is everything. They did their job but, if we’re honest, it was not a great advert for Test match cricket.
“It flattered one team and knocked seven bells out of the other one. But England’s top three go into the Test series against India full of confidence. They have no excuse now.”
Describing the game as a “mismatch”, he added: “It was like putting a heavyweight boxer in with a flyweight. The heavyweight toyed with the flyweight before knocking him out with one punch.
“Zimbabwe were just out of their depth. Anyone could see it. England batted first on a flat pitch and took advantage of club bowling and enjoyed easy batting practice.”
England will face India in a five-Test marquee series beginning June 20 at Leeds. Their next assignment in the World Test Championship cycle will be the high-profile Ashes series in Australia, starting November 21.
“My worry for the Ashes series later this year has always been England’s bowling and I saw nothing at Nottingham to change my mind.
“The seamers were made to look very ordinary by a Zimbabwe team that were not much better than a minor county side.”
