Drop the anchor, put your head down, respect the conditions and play. It is a common saying in Test cricket, especially when conditions are tough. Test cricket tests the patience, skill, grit and character of a cricketer to an extent that no other format does. Despite these times featuring the aggressive batting approach by some, the patient game in Test cricket goes a long way.
Not because the teams have a lot of time, but because of the need to play out difficult phases and situations in testing conditions of pace or spin.
As India are set to embark on their Test series against England, here we take a look at a much-talked-about innings by one of the greatest England openers of all time - Geoff Boycott's marathon 246 not out - that he made against India at Leeds, the very venue where the first Test between the two teams will be played in a couple of days.
Geoff Boycott's Marathon 246 at Leeds
Scoring runs is crucial in any Test match, and spending time is equally important. But the way those runs are scored also makes a difference. Geoff Boycott's unbeaten 246 against India at the Leeds Test in 1967 went into the annals of history, but not for righteous reasons.
After England had opted to bat first and England had lost opener John Edrich, Boycott bore and dropped anchor like anything. Coming on the back of a wretched form in his previous nine innings, the England opener played a knock that was called selfish.
He made only 106 runs from six hours on Day 1. He scored 25 runs in the first session and went for 45 minutes without adding a run midway through the session. After lunch and before tea, he scored 50 and 31 in the last session as he went unbeaten on 106 at the end of day 1.
Boycott's 246 that caught criticism left, right and centre
He was criticized for the opening day act, with his critics citing that India were two bowlers down when Rusi Surti and Bishan Bedi suffered injuries well before the close of play and did not bowl any further.
"It was more of an occupation than any innings," Woodcock noted in the Times. "A defenceless army was hunted down," he wrote of India's attack that got weakened after the injuries to the two bowlers. "Low birds were blown to pieces."
"He would have bored the spectators a good deal more had he not been a Yorkshireman," Gordon Ross wrote in the Playfair Cricket Monthly. "Perhaps it was as well that the match was not being played at Old Trafford. Every cricketer on the ground winced when he played a full toss or half-volley back to the bowler."
Boycott's reaction to his knock
Boycott reacted to his knock, saying that he did not expect to get praise but defended it saying that he showed the character. "I didn't expect praise for my first-day performance," Boycott wrote. "It was a grim-looking innings and I didn't need anybody to tell me that. But I had shown that I had the character to stick with it.
"The alternative was to give me wicket away and return to the anonymity of the dressing room. I was never conscious of the time factor... but when you are in bad nick you never seem to get half-volleys. And when you do play a shot, the ball always seems to hit fielders."
Meanwhile, the then-England captain Brian Close stated, "in different conditions, such tenacity would be hailed as a masterly exhibition of the bulldog spirit. But on this first day of a Test, it was being viewed in a different light."
Boycott batted more aggressively on second day
The opener was more aggressive on the second day, though. Carrying on from his overnight score of 106, he added 140 more on the next day in four hours with greater intent, but the shadows of the first day were quite long. Boycott denied that he changed his intent due to the media criticism.
"The undramatic fact was, I was happy to have got through the first day," he said. "I'd had a good night's sleep and felt considerably more relaxed in the knowledge that the runs were on the board."
Boycott dropped from Lord's Test
Following this match, Boycott was dropped from the next Test at Lord's. The then-England skipper Close, who was in the meeting with the selectors, said that he wanted to retain the opener but was outvoted. "In view of the precedent created when Barrington was dropped, we had no alternative," he said. Boycott said that he thought that Close "did not go in to bat for me". Meanwhile, the selectors later said that Boycott was not dropped for the slow batting but for selfish batting.
Close thought he would come out better after this knock, but Boycott stated, "the stigma of being dropped by England, apparently for selfishness, was to mark the rest of my career."
The opener was recalled for third Test
Meanwhile, Boycott was recalled for the third Test. While England were getting the better of India at Lord's, Boycott made 584 runs in four innings elsewhere and was dismissed only once in four innings.
He was recalled into the team for the third Test at Edgbaston but felt, "I was terrified in case I played a maiden over. I felt as if the whole press box was waiting for me to play a defensive stroke."
Boycott went out for an all-out attack in the next game. "I was going to ping the ball like nobody's business". He was stumped charging down the pitch to Bedi. "I had made 25, a significant blow for brighter cricket." He was dismissed for 6 in the second innings.
Notably, Boycott made only one more appearance in the summer. However, he was later recalled tour of the Caribbean in that winter.