England cricket icon Geoffrey Boycott has slammed the theory of Australia recovering enough to win the next three Tests and regain the Ashes, saying that 'pigs might fly' before something like that happened in this series.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, such an event happened once before in Australia in 1936-37, when England lost the Ashes series after losing the last three Tests despite winning the first two.
In a column for a British newspaper, Boycott said that at that time, Australia had the 'greatest run machine' Sir Donald Bradman batting for them with scores of 13, 270, 26, 212 and 169, adding that there is no 'genius' in the current Australian squad to turn the series around like Bradman did.
According to Boycott, Australia can win if captain Michael Clarke can take on Bradman's form as he is capable of great things given that he has made two double hundreds last year, although he feared that such a feat would be impossible now as it will take a huge amount of improved batting skill, mental toughness and unity for Australia to surprise England.
Stating that rumours of a rift between Clarke and his former deputy Shane Watson also do not bode well for the team, Boycott further said that the batting woes continued for the team with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin failing to go for two fairly straightforward catches that have hurt Australia badly as it helped England's Joe Root to make 180 at Lord's.
Terming the selection of Ashes debutant Ashton Agar as 'poor', Boycott also said that Agar's memorable batting at Trent Bridge cannot overlook his naive bowling, adding that he was picked as a left-arm slow bowler even though he is not good enough yet.
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Boycott mentioned that Australia needs to know that England can get better with their two of their best players in captain Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, although he advised Prior to show some discipline and better shot selection.
Boycott also urged Cook to play for a long period in the middle to get a good score and lift his confidence as his good demeanour is crucial to the other players' well-being, adding that if the opposition can get their rival leader down, it can have a debilitating effect on the team.
