Some female cricketers would have better strike rate than him: Lisa Sthalekar slams Geoffrey Boycott

Sthalekar was replying to the comments made by Boycott where he says women’s cricket bears no resemblance to the power of men’s cricket.

 

New Delhi(Agencies): A day after former England opener Geoffrey Boycott left BBC’s Test Match Special commentary team after 14-long years, his comments about the lack of power and resemblance in women’s cricket compared to men’s cricket and only those who have played men’s cricket at the highest level should be allowed to give expert analysis during a Test match has not down well with former Australia cricketer Lisa Sthalekar.

 “It, obviously, helps to have been in similar situations to then go: ‘This is what the players might be thinking’. But the thought process and how people play the game is still exactly the same whether you play men’s cricket or women’s cricket,” she was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.

Sthalekar was replying to the comments made by Boycott where he says women’s cricket bears no resemblance to the power of men’s cricket.

 “To provide expert analysis you need to have experienced the heat of Test cricket and understand what it takes to succeed,” the 79-year-old wrote in a controversial column published in the London Telegraph.

 “You have to know the pressure, emotions and technique required and I do not believe you can learn that from reading a book or because you played club cricket, second XI cricket or, with great respect, women’s cricket. As good as the women are at their game, it bears no resemblance to the power and pace of men’s cricket,” he added.

Sthalekar countered Boycott’s “power and pace” argument by saying it has got nothing to do with power.

“It’s got nothing to do with power. The other thing as well, and this is for guys as women’s cricket is pretty cool and sexy at the moment, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, but we need to remember that we don’t need guys coming in asking women to compare it to men’s because it is not. It is different,” she said.

 “The same argument for him is that we shouldn’t have any males commentating on our game because they have never played against females. But that is not what we (cricket) are about,” she added.

Sthalekar further states that she didn’t see much power displayed by Boycott when he played Test cricket.

 “It’s time for him to leave the game and let’s remember him as a great cricketer of a certain generation. Talk about power - I didn’t see much power that he displayed,” said Sthalekar, who has played 8 Tests, 125 ODIs and 54 T20Is for Australia in which she scored 416, 2728 and 769 runs respectively.

 “Let’s call up his strike rate and look at some of the numbers compared to female Test cricketers of even that generation. I think some of the female cricketers would have had a better strike rate than he did,” she added.

Boycott played 108 Tests for England from 1964 to 1982 in which he scored 8,114 runs and was captain on four occasions in 1978 in place of the injured Mike Brearley.