"If you’re going to just entertain, they might as well be a circus" - Geoffrey Boycott slams England's 'Bazball' approach

Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott isn't impressed with England's message that 'brand of cricket matters more' after their Edgbaston defeat against Australia in the first Test.

Cricketers like James Anderson along with captain Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have insisted that they wanted to 'entertain' people with their brand of cricket even after the loss in the first Ashes 2023 Test.

On the Vaughan and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast, here's what Geoffrey Boycott had to say about Bazball:

"They lost sight of the fact that the object is to win and then if you want to entertain then yes, by all means. But why can’t you win and entertain? When you get ahead of yourself – and that’s what England did – they stopped thinking.

"If you’re going to just entertain, they might as well be a circus. That’s it, go be a professional circus around the world."

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Geoffrey Boycott on the importance of winning Ashes

Geoffrey Boycott agreed that the brand of cricket that England have been playing has excited a lot of fans including himself. However, he opined that the topmost priority should be to win the Test match and he feels that's exactly what the fans want too.

On this, Boycott stated:

“I enjoyed the cricket, it kept you on the edge of your seat. England were winning every session, but they didn’t win the match, and that should tell them something for the next Test. If you ask people in England, ‘Do you want to win the Ashes, or do you want to entertain and lose?’ I know what the answer will be.”

England have made one change to their XI for the Lord's Test by adding pacer Josh Tongue in place of Moeen Ali.

England XI for Lord's Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson.