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Spineless England lack motivation: Boycott
Under-performing England team came under scathing criticism from former skipper Geoffrey Boycott who feels Andrew Strauss's men lack motivation to improve.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: February 09, 2009 04:03 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
London:
England suffered a humiliating innings and 23-run defeat at the hands of the West Indies in the first Test in Sabina Park when the tourists were bowled out for 51 in their second innings on Saturday.
Boycott feels English players are taking things too easy and their spineless surrender against the Windies shows lack of motivation.
"Look at the players who capitulated so spinelessly at Sabina Park on Saturday, and you will see that almost all of them appeared in Peter Moores' first series as coach back in 2007," Boycott wrote in his column in the 'Daily Telegraph'.
"Now I have nothing against continuity if a team are winning. But, correct me if I'm wrong, haven't England been getting their backsides kicked around the world for the past two years?
"You can't even say they are in a building phase, because no progress is being made. Yes, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are still great players who would get into any side on the planet. When those two do well, England can look a decent outfit. But what about the rest of this sorry lot?" Boycott wrote.
"Alastair Cook still has the same technical issues outside off-stump that the Australians exploited in the last Ashes series. Ian Bell still keels over at the first hint of pressure. Steve Harmison still blows hot and cold. And Monty Panesar still bowls the same ball six times an over.
"These lads just have it too easy. There is no motivation to improve when they have more than a dozen backroom staff to analyse their techniques, put out the cones at training, and virtually wipe their bottoms for them," he added.
Under-performing England team came under scathing criticism from former skipper Geoffrey Boycott who feels Andrew Strauss's men lack motivation to improve.England suffered a humiliating innings and 23-run defeat at the hands of the West Indies in the first Test in Sabina Park when the tourists were bowled out for 51 in their second innings on Saturday.
Boycott feels English players are taking things too easy and their spineless surrender against the Windies shows lack of motivation.
"Look at the players who capitulated so spinelessly at Sabina Park on Saturday, and you will see that almost all of them appeared in Peter Moores' first series as coach back in 2007," Boycott wrote in his column in the 'Daily Telegraph'.
"Now I have nothing against continuity if a team are winning. But, correct me if I'm wrong, haven't England been getting their backsides kicked around the world for the past two years?
"You can't even say they are in a building phase, because no progress is being made. Yes, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are still great players who would get into any side on the planet. When those two do well, England can look a decent outfit. But what about the rest of this sorry lot?" Boycott wrote.
"Alastair Cook still has the same technical issues outside off-stump that the Australians exploited in the last Ashes series. Ian Bell still keels over at the first hint of pressure. Steve Harmison still blows hot and cold. And Monty Panesar still bowls the same ball six times an over.
"These lads just have it too easy. There is no motivation to improve when they have more than a dozen backroom staff to analyse their techniques, put out the cones at training, and virtually wipe their bottoms for them," he added.
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