England MBEs 'a joke' claims Boycott

Andrew Flintoff with gong © Getty Images

After Shane Warne sledged Paul Collingwood on the third day at the SCG for being "awarded an MBE for scoring 7 at The Oval", Geoff Boycott weighed in to the debate over the honours awarded to the England side in 2005.

"For 18 years England haven't won ... Australia have been beating England every two years home or away," he said on his BBC podcast. "Suddenly, when England win, all hell breaks loose. They all get gongs at the palace. It just shows how foolish it was when they come out here two years later and are absolutely annihilated.

"I scored 8,000 runs and played a hundred Tests before I got one (Boycott was awarded the OBE in 1980) and what did he score? Seventeen runs? And the others played five Tests to get one? I feel so bad about mine I'm going to tie it around my cat. It's a joke.

"Andrew Flintoff, who's a super player, Marcus Trescothick who's played a lot of Tests and done well, Michael Vaughan as the winning captain. But every Tom, Dick or Harry?"

Boycott added that the fact that Warne had not been recognised added to the sense of farce.