Geoffrey Boycott slams Aussie cricket team in harsh rant

A FORMER prominent English cricketer has slammed the Australian cricket team in an abusive rant, calling them ‘unbelievably stupid’ and ‘novice’.

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - AUGUST 07: Steve Smith of Australia looks dejected after being dismissed by Stuart Broad of England during day two of the 4th Investec Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Trent Bridge on August 7, 2015 in Nottingham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

FORMER England batsman and commentator Geoffrey Boycott has called out the Australian cricket team in an abusive rant in The Telegraph overnight.

Following Australia’s sub-par performance in the fourth test at Trent Bridge, Boycott has labelled the Aussies as arrogant, claiming they failed to prepare for the northern hemisphere conditions.

“They are so bad it is unbelievable. They do not learn. When I went to Australia to play I knew it would be on hard bouncy pitches so I practised in the nets to replicate the challenge,” Boycott said.

“Australia should have done homework on the lateral movement you get in England from good seam bowlers such as Stuart Broad and James Anderson.”

The former England opener was ruthless in his analysis of the match, obviously troubled by media reports leading up to the series that suggested Australia would repeat it’s 5-0 whitewash of the 2013-14 series.

Steve Smith has copped the brunt of Geoffrey Boycott’s rant following his second innings dismissal at Trent Bridge.

“You cannot just turn up in England and expect pitches to be exactly like Australia, hope the sun is going to shine at 90 degrees and you will bat under blue skies. That does not happen.

“There are times in England when you have to graft and work hard for your runs. You do not have long periods where you can cream the ball to all parts,” he said.

“I have no sympathy for them. They came here cock-a-hoop and gloating after beating us 5-0. They derided England and some of their players slagged us off whenever they could in the newspapers.”

Boycott then set his targets on top order batsman Steve Smith.

Smith, who was ranked the world’s best batsman following the series against the West Indies, has mixed a few exceptional performances into a mostly disappointing Ashes series.

“Australia’s most prolific batsman over the last 12 months, Steve Smith, has played like a novice. He is a flat-track bully on easy batting pitches but in six innings on the three Test-match pitches where the ball has moved laterally he has had a bad technique and he has shown poor shot selection and an inability to graft or work for runs. In those six innings he has scored 92 runs. Pathetic,” Boycott said.

“His second-innings dismissal here was unbelievably stupid. He was caught at cover-point trying to smash a good-length ball on the up having just come to the crease following a failure in the first innings and with his team trying to battle for credibility.

“As the vice-captain and the next leader of the team what sort of message does that send to your teammates?”

Boycott’s bias rant is difficult to argue with following England’s dominant performance at Trent Bridge.

A passionate England supporter, Boycott’s rant finished by singing the praises of paceman Stuart Broad, who rounded out an impressive first innings performance, completely decimating the Australian batting order with figures of eight for 15.