Boycott not hopeful of England Ashes win
Geoffrey Boycott expects Australia to win Ashes
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Tuesday, 05, May 2009 09:52
England legend Geoffrey Boycott thinks the team are "not in great shape" and played down their chances of winning the Ashes.
The 68-year-old pointed to the fiasco surrounding the captaincy, the failure to find a number three batsman and England's lack of bowling firepower as reasons why he thinks Australia are likely to keep hold of the Ashes.
"England are not in great shape," Boycott told BBC One's Inside Sport. "Can they win the Ashes? No, I think they will draw if anything, and the Australians will retain them."
Boycott admitted he was still unsure if Andrew Strauss was the right man to lead the team, despite being named the England player of the year.
"There was the fiasco over Kevin Pietersen, the fiasco over Allen Stanford and his millions, they've tried three or four guys as captain," said Boycott.
"Now they've got Andrew Strauss who is quite a nice lad - he will do a decent job - but I'm not convinced he is a natural captain. It's a gift, to look after 10 other people and also to still look after your own game and play well, and at the same time be thinking two steps ahead of the game.
"When you're captain you can't just wait for things to happen. The great captains are thinking ahead."
England are expected to hand Test debuts to Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions in the first Test against the West Indies and Boycott described them as "decent bowlers" but feels the England team should still stick with Steve Harmison who feels has the most potential of all the bowlers.