Sir Geoffrey Boycott has criticised Ben Stokes for his 'disrespectful' comments about former players ahead of the Ashes series. Stokes had referred to critics of England's preparation as 'has-beens', a remark he later apologised for as a 'slip of the tongue'.
Boycott, a former England captain and prolific batsman, advised Stokes to listen to ex-players. 'To call past players has-beens was disrespectful especially as some of those has-beens played in teams that won the Ashes in England and Australia,' Boycott told The Telegraph.
England lost the first Test in Perth by eight wickets, and now face a must-win day-night Test in Brisbane. The last visiting team to win at The Gabba in an Ashes series was England in 1986 under Mike Gatting.
Stokes apologised via BBC Sport, saying: 'Has-beens is a horrible word. It's the only thing that managed to come out of my mouth in that moment.' Boycott acknowledged the apology but urged Stokes to focus on winning. 'Get the job done, because then you don’t need to say anything and you can bask in all the glory coming your way,' he added.
