100 HUNDREDS 40 YEARS ON
YORKSHIRE LEGEND ON THAT AMAZING DAY AT HEADINGLEY Even TMS wind-up muppets can’t sour the most ‘magical moment’ of Boycott’s life
IT was the best delivery of Jonathan Agnew’s career.
Pitched right under Geoff Boycott’s nose, the Greatest Living Yorkshireman couldn’t resist having a dart and took the bait.
Live on air, Test Match Special anchorman Agnew recited a spoof press release from the International Cricket Council stating that all runs, wickets and catches from England’s Test matches against the Rest of the World in 1970 – which replaced the cancelled series against South Africa – would be expunged from firstclass records.
Boycott’s mild huffing turned to full-blown chuntering when it was pointed out that he scored a century against the Rest of the World – and therefore his most cherished landmark, the 100th first-class hundred of his career, in an Ashes Test at Headingley 40 years ago today, would only be No.99 in the sequence. “A load of tripe,” scoffed the former England opener (above, with Agnew), whose adhesion to the crease became a forerunner to superglue.
Oh, dear. Sir Geoffrey’s party for 180 people to celebrate the anniversary of his feat, to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, would now have to be classed as premature jollification.
And instead of bringing up his 100th ton in front of his adoring Yorkshire flock on 11 August 1977, it would mean it actually happened in dusty, dreary Faisalabad, on England’s tour of Pakistan, three months later.
“It’s a mess,” muttered Boycott, before Agnew – with impeccable comic timing – agreed, adding: “It’s also a complete wind-up, Geoffrey.”
If you haven’t seen or heard it, look it up on YouTube. Agnew’s deadpan delivery, and Boycott’s reaction – “You muppet!” – is pure radio gold.
For the avoidance of doubt, today is the 40th anniversary of Boycs’ finest hour, when he punched Greg Chappell’s looping half-volley to the boundary with an impeccable drive through mid-on to bring up his hundredth hundred.
He still calls it “the most magical moment of my life” and the nation shared a legend’s jubilation.
Boycott had only returned to the side the previous month after a three-year exile from Test cricket, instigated when he was overlooked for the England captaincy in favour of Mike Denness, a Scotsman, in 1974. Despite running out home favourite Derek Randall at Trent Bridge in the third Test, he made a triumphant comeback, scoring a hundred – link No.98 in the chain – and batting on all five days of the match.
And when England captain Mike Brearley won the toss at Leeds, the stage was set perfectly for Boycott. Five days before the Ashes Test at Headingley, century No.99 had rolled off the production line in
the county championship against Warwickshire. All he had to do now was to defy Aussie pace bowlers Jeff Thomson, Lennie Pascoe and Max Walker, and the day would turn into a Hollywood script.
The night before the game, Boycott was so restless that he resorted to sleeping pills to help him rest, but he was wide awake by the time he drilled Chappell’s loosener to the boundary just past non-striker Graham Roope, who had to leap out of the way.
Although the ground was officially full to its 22,500 capacity, Yorkshire had opened the gates after tea to let more people bear witness to a moment of history.
Our friends at ‘Elf ‘n’ Safety would not permit such benevolence these days, but it appeared that half the Western Terrace had joined in the pitch invasion as Boycott was swallowed under hundreds of fans trying to shake his hand or lift him shoulder-high.
Last man out, he went on to score 191 as England crushed the Aussies by an innings to regain the Ashes after Denness’s shellshocked side had been ambushed by Thomson and Dennis Lillee in 1974-75.
In the meantime, 180 friends, family and supporters gathered in a marquee chez Boycott in Yorkshire to toast the 40th anniversary of their hero’s century of centuries as planned last night. Not even Agnew’s finest wind-up was ever going to stop them.