Geoffrey Boycott’s career and controversies in pictures

Not that any clarification were needed, for quite aside from his embodiment of the bluntness for which Yorkshiremen are renowned, Boycott is arguably the most prodigiously talented cricketer of his generation.

By any measure he was one of the outstanding batsmen in Yorkshire’s history, playing in 414 matches, scoring a total of 32,570 runs at an average of 57.85. He scored 103 centuries at county level, passing 1,000 runs in a season on 19 occasions and 2,000 once.

His crowning glory was the unforgettable moment at Headingley on August 11 1977, when he became the first man in the history of the game to score his 100th century in a Test match. And it was on his home turf.

Yet he was never anything less than controversial – some would say divisive – and when 1979 Yorkshire decided to bring in Ray Illingworth as manager and John Hampshire as captain, a group of club members rose in Boycott’s support. The Reform Group, as they called themselves, demanded his reinstatement, and when the committee spurned them and left Hampshire in place, the fallout threatened to split the club in two. The Reformers had their day in Harrogate in January 1984 when votes of confidence in the committee failed to garner the necessary support.

But time was running out for Boycott, and two-and-a-half years later the club, faced with a threatened rebellion of younger players, decided not to offer him a new contract. He was 45.

He might have been forgiven a little schadenfreude in his later career as a typically outspoken commentator – seldom missing a chance to criticise the technique of some of those who followed him.

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James Mitchinson