Geoff BOYCOTT

Geoff Boycott is pictured above clipping a ball off his pads during his vital innings of 46 in the unforgettable Headingley 'Botham' Test of 1981. England were staring defeat in the face, following on at 41-4 in their 2nd innings, before Boycott and Peter Willey added 64 precious runs for the 5th wicket. However, when the pair plus Bob Taylor departed with the score still only on 135 it looked as if Geoff's determined effort would be in vain. That is, of course, until Ian Botham took charge of proceedings and went on to play one of the most phenomenal innings in the history of the game. His blistering 149 not out, with splendid support from first Graham Dilley (56) and then Chris Old (29) enabled England to set Australia a winning target of 130. Despite that man Botham removing Graeme Wood with the score on 13, they looked to be cruising at 56-1 until Bob Willis took centre stage and, bowling like a man possessed, tore through the Australian batting order to return figures of 8-43 and secure, surely, the most remarkable comeback in the history of Test match cricket. An interesting aside was that at one stage during the 4th day England were 500/1 to win the match and both Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh placed bets on them to do so! The figures above show only Geoff's latter day appearances against Australia - his earlier performances can be seen on the previous page. In total he scored 2945 runs in 38 matches at an average of 47.50 - virtually identical to his overall average of 47.73. (David Scranage)

 'Make someone happy' exclaims the advert behind Geoffrey Boycott at Trent Bridge and the Yorkshireman certainly made plenty of England fans happy that day and for the remainder of the summer of 1977. Geoff returned at Trent Bridge from a three year sabbatical from Test match cricket and responded in quite magnificent fashion with innings of 107 and 80 not out to help England to an impressive 7 wicket victory. Not quite everybody was happy that day, though, as Boycs managed to upset the locals by running out hometown hero Derek Randall for just 13! The bottom left inset photo shows Boycott square cutting during his 1st innings 107 whilst the bottom right inset picture shows Geoff striding out to bat with skipper Mike Brearley in England's second innings, the pair leading England to the brink of victory with a fine opening stand of 154, Brearley making his second highest Test score of 80. If that was good then the great was to follow in the next Test as Geoff picked the most fitting of settings, his home ground Headingley, to record the hundredth hundred of his illustrious career. The middle inset picture shows one proud Yorkshireman saluting a ground packed to the rafters with proud, passionate Yorkshiremen after the magical moment when he reached his century! In doing so Geoff became the first player to achieve the feat in a Test match and he went on to make his highest ever score of 191 against Australia, helping England to a comprehensive innings and 85 runs victory. Boycott chipped in with 39 and 25 not out in the rain affected drawn 5th Test meaning he had amassed a remarkable 442 runs in 5 innings since his triumphant return at Trent Bridge - an average of 147.33 ! (David Scranage)