Six reasons not to become an opener

This day, 25 years ago, Geoff Boycott was at the receiving end of perhaps the greatest over ever bowled

25-Feb-2013

This day, 25 years ago, Geoff Boycott was at the receiving end of perhaps the greatest over ever bowled. Cricinfo's All Today's Yesterday, records it thus: The six balls that Michael Holding bowled to Boycott at Bridgetown, only the second over of England's innings, were absolutely chilling in their ferocity and pace. So much for looseners: each ball was quicker than the last, until the sixth swung in and sent Boycott's off stump flying.

Click here to read Martin Williamson's piece on that dramatic episode.

Michael Parkinson wrote on that over.

In the folklore of cricket, those six balls have acquired the reputation of the most lethal over ever delivered. It is not something you can prove except to say that anyone who witnessed what happened, as I did, is bound to say they never saw anything quite like it.

Boycott admits he still has nightmares about that over. Holding smiles at the memory and says 'If you believe Geoffrey, England would have been six wickets down without scoring had he not been batting'.

However, one thing needs to be remembered. Boycott was 40 years old then, the great batsman's reflexes must have slowed down a bit. Here is Michael Holding, in an extract from Tony Francis's book Zen of Cricket, on Boycs.

"You were never worried about Boycott embarrassing you. I only remember him hooking me once, but he wasn't easy to intimidate. A lot of people said he didn't like the fast stuff, didn't want to face Lillee and Thomson, but I never saw him look as if he wanted to back off. Not once."