Australia ‘better than us’ in nearly every department, insists Boycott

Geoffrey Boycott claims the 4-0 Ashes scoreline in no way flattered Australia as he labelled England “false” for attempting to play down the gulf in class between the teams during the series.

The tourists suffered the ignominy of their heaviest defeat of the five Tests after they were crushed by an innings and 123 runs in Sydney to complete their misery Down Under. Several England players and coaches have repeatedly stressed in recent weeks that the main difference between the sides is that Australia have seized the crucial moments across the series.

But Boycott, pictured, who featured in 108 Tests between 1964 and 1982 for England, rubbished those suggestions, telling BBC Radio 5 live: “The series result is a fair reflection of the distance between the two teams. I think it’s a little false by a number of the England players to say, at times, they were quite close and that there were moments here and there. Quite honestly, they were far better than us in nearly every department.”

Boycott compared Test cricket to chess and believes England, and in particular the batsmen, were at times guilty of possessing a Twenty20 mindset.

Headded:“ithinkalotofpeople over the last 10 years, since the IPL started in India, are saturated and have got it in their head about scoring rates. Test cricket is not that. It’s like 11 people in whites playing chess.

“You’re moving the pieces and trying to get in a position for checkmate. But it doesn’t happen quickly in chess. We start equal, we move around in the first day, we don’t know who’s winning. The second day, we’re not sure, and by the third day we’ve got a pretty good idea of who’s on top.

“Then slowly the Australians squeeze us and we lose easily. That’s what it’s been like.”

Ashes 2005 winning captain Michael Vaughan agreed that England have been second best throughout although he took solace from their fighting spirit, which he thinks was lacking as the side were whitewashed in 2013/14.

He told BBC Test Match Special: “The England side four years ago, you felt as though the white towel came out very early on the tour. You didn’t feel that this time around.

“I’ve never felt that England have given up. They’ve just not been good enough.”