On this day: Geoffrey Boycott completes his 100th hundred

In 1977, England were looking to stop Australia who had won back to back Ashes series in 1974-75 and 1975-76. After the first Test at the Lord’s ended in a draw, the home team won the following two Tests by nine wickets and seven wickets respectively. This meant Australia had to win the last two matches of the series to retain the Ashes, while England needed only a draw to regain the Ashes.

England elected to bat first after winning the toss in the 4th Test at Old Trafford on August 11th but their captain Mike Brearley got out in the very first over to Jeff Thomson. But the other opener Geoff Boycott held things from one end as he was involved in as many as four partnerships of 50+ runs. Boycott reached 110 by the end of the first day and continued his innings until Tea on the second day.

This was also Boycott’s 100th century in his first-class career coming in his 390th match in the format. The England opener made his FC debut at the age of 22 in 1962 and 15 years later, became the first player to score his 100th first-class hundred in a Test match. Only Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas managed to replicate the feat of scoring FC career’s 100th ton in a Test. Boycott scored 51 more first-class tons post the Manchester Test which includes eight tons in Test cricket.

100th FC ton in a Test match!

The biggest stand of the innings came with Alan Knott (57) who was the only other England batsman to reach fifty in the first innings. The duo put on 123 runs for the 6th wicket which was spread across three hours. Boycott batted through the England innings before getting out for 191 from 471 balls. England ended their first innings on 436 in 155.4 overs. This was Boycott’s only second Test in three years as he took a three-year break from Test cricket due to stress.

Forty-three years ago today Geoffrey Boycott on drove Greg Chappell to reach his 100th hundred in the 4th Test against Australia on his home ground at Leeds, sparking jubilant celebrations from a full house basking in glorious sunshine (Patrick Eagar) pic.twitter.com/6QRKlLM2kW

— Historic Cricket Pictures (@PictureSporting) August 11, 2020

The third Test in Nottingham marked Geoff Boycott’s return to Test cricket where he smashed 107 in the first innings. England won the Test and sealed the series by bundling out the Aussies to 103 and 248 respectively. The final Test match at The Oval ended in a draw as England clinched the series by 3-0 margin. The 191-run knock in Manchester turned out to be Boycott’s 14th ton in what was his 63rd Test match.