Boycott's anniversary

August 11 was the 34th anniversary of Geoffrey Boycott's one hundredth first-class hundred, scored in an Ashes Test against Australia on his home ground at Headingley in 1977. Boycott the player is receding into the past today, but an entry in the in the blog www.oldbatsman.blogspot.com reminisces about the time its writer watched him bat.

John Arlott, as he often would, made a telling and melancholic point about Geoffrey. 'He had,' Arlott said, 'a lonely career'. That is true, but in essence the great batsmen are alone, or at least they are when they bat. He is, in his quirky way, less alone now. I'm glad I saw him play.