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REVIEW: Boycott & Aggers at Cheltenham Town Hall
18/10/2017
Cricket fans flocked to Cheltenham Town Hall on Tuesday evening to see cricketing legend ‘Sir’ Geoffrey Boycott hold court with fellow broadcaster Jonathan Agnew.
Dubbed ‘cricket’s odd couple’, the pair gave their thoughts on the forthcoming Ashes series and how England would cope with or without controversial all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Dubbed ‘cricket’s odd couple’, the pair gave their thoughts on the forthcoming Ashes series and how England would cope with or without controversial all-rounder Ben Stokes.
But much of the evening focussed on 76-year-old Boycott’s illustrious career with Yorkshire and England, which was never without controversy itself.
We were reminded of how Boycott grew up playing cricket as a youngster with ‘Dickie’ Bird and Michael Parkinson (apparently a useful cricketer) and then went on to become part of the great Yorkshire team of the 1960s which included the likes of Brian Close and Ray Illingworth.
He went on to play 108 Tests for England from 1964 to 1982 and chatting with Boycott in often jokey style, Agnew gradually brought us to the moment in 1977 when Boycott became the first batsman to score his hundredth first-class hundred in a Test match when he scored 191 against Australia at his home ground of Headingley. We were shown footage of the moment he on-drove Greg Chappell for four to bring up the milestone.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017, and Agnew couldn’t resist reliving his classic wind-up of Boycott on Test Match Special when he concocted a press release that basically said that one of Boycott’s centuries against the Rest of the World in 1970 wouldn’t count as first-class, which meant his Headingley 100 wasn’t his hundredth. With 40th anniversary celebrations already planned by a despairing Boycott, Agnew eventually put him out of his misery by telling him it was a prank.
Perhaps the moment that had the Cheltenham audience most in stitches was when Agnew replayed his famous ‘leg-over’ scene with fellow commentator Brian Johnston in 1991. Although we’d all heard it many times before, I could still feel my father shaking next to me. If you’ve never heard it, I suggest Youtube it!
It was not all fun and games though, and there were some serious moments during the evening, particularly when Boycott spoke of his battle against cancer and Agnew spoke of his wife Emma’s current battle against breast cancer, which will affect his broadcasting commitments for the forthcoming Ashes series.
Boycott and Aggers might not agree on everything, but they have an obvious affection and respect for each other which came across during the evening.
My verdict? A first-class performance.
David Wood
We were reminded of how Boycott grew up playing cricket as a youngster with ‘Dickie’ Bird and Michael Parkinson (apparently a useful cricketer) and then went on to become part of the great Yorkshire team of the 1960s which included the likes of Brian Close and Ray Illingworth.
He went on to play 108 Tests for England from 1964 to 1982 and chatting with Boycott in often jokey style, Agnew gradually brought us to the moment in 1977 when Boycott became the first batsman to score his hundredth first-class hundred in a Test match when he scored 191 against Australia at his home ground of Headingley. We were shown footage of the moment he on-drove Greg Chappell for four to bring up the milestone.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017, and Agnew couldn’t resist reliving his classic wind-up of Boycott on Test Match Special when he concocted a press release that basically said that one of Boycott’s centuries against the Rest of the World in 1970 wouldn’t count as first-class, which meant his Headingley 100 wasn’t his hundredth. With 40th anniversary celebrations already planned by a despairing Boycott, Agnew eventually put him out of his misery by telling him it was a prank.
Perhaps the moment that had the Cheltenham audience most in stitches was when Agnew replayed his famous ‘leg-over’ scene with fellow commentator Brian Johnston in 1991. Although we’d all heard it many times before, I could still feel my father shaking next to me. If you’ve never heard it, I suggest Youtube it!
It was not all fun and games though, and there were some serious moments during the evening, particularly when Boycott spoke of his battle against cancer and Agnew spoke of his wife Emma’s current battle against breast cancer, which will affect his broadcasting commitments for the forthcoming Ashes series.
Boycott and Aggers might not agree on everything, but they have an obvious affection and respect for each other which came across during the evening.
My verdict? A first-class performance.
David Wood
