[4][5] He was known for his ability to occupy the crease and became a key feature of England's Test batting line-up for many years, although he was less successful in his limited One Day International appearances.

[14] After his playing career ended, Boycott became an often outspoken and controversial cricket commentator on radio and television, never slow to criticise modern players' techniques.

[16] In March 1950,[17] Boycott's father had a serious accident while working as a coalminer, suffering severe damage to his spine after he was hit by empty coal carts:[18] he never fully recovered, and died in 1967.

However, matters improved when a more robust pair, similar to those glasses worn by cricketer Roy Marshall, were fashioned for him at the behest of his maternal uncle, Albert Speight.

[24] Boycott told the BBC in 1965 that he chose to leave school at 17 because he no longer wished to be a financial strain on his parents, and because he wanted to pursue his cricketing career.

During his career Boycott frequently clashed with other strong personalities at the club, including Fred Trueman, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, but remained popular with the Yorkshire crowds.

[41] Boycott cemented his place in the Yorkshire XI in the 1963 season with successive scores of 76, 53, 49 not out and 50, and on 29 August made a century partnership in both innings of a match against Leicestershire with Ken Taylor.

[47] At the start of the 1964 season Boycott hit 151 against Middlesex, followed by another hundred against Lancashire in May, and then played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against the Australian touring side at Lord's, where he scored 63.

One shot, a lofted straight drive off England paceman Geoff Arnold was nearly caught by Boycott's teammates on the players' balcony in the pavilion.

[60] The beginning of the end of his captaincy came after BBC Radio Leeds interviews in which two Yorkshire committee members and former players, Don Brennan and Mel Ryan, said that a change in leadership was needed.

[57][75] Boycott, after much thought, continued as a player at Yorkshire, scoring 1,941 runs at 61.70 in 1979, hitting six hundreds to pass Len Hutton's record of 129 first-class centuries.

His Test career included 22 centuries, fourth in England's records, held jointly with Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, and Ian Bell and surpassed only by Pietersen (23), Cook (33) and Root (36).

[103][107] A combination of low confidence and a throat infection limited Boycott to two further Test appearances, playing once more against India and once against Pakistan, for the rest of the year.

[110] Health problems with his spleen and trouble adjusting to wearing contact lenses meant that Boycott missed the tour of Pakistan in 1968/69,[111] but he returned to the team by the summer of 1969, scoring 128 against the West Indies at Old Trafford, and another century at Lord's.

[115] He made 119 in the second innings but injured his arm against fast bowler Garth McKenzie in a following one-day match and missed the final Test, when England retained the Ashes.

[124][125] When Boycott returned to the Test side against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1977 he ran out Derek Randall in front of his home crowd before going on to make a century.

[6] Appointed vice-captain for the tour of Pakistan and New Zealand that winter, Boycott assumed the captaincy in 1978 for two Tests when Mike Brearley was injured, and brought with him his successful summer form.

Reaching the final after a close victory against New Zealand in which Boycott scored only two,[144] he hit 57 from 105 balls as England chased Viv Richards 138 not out-inspired 286 to win, falling 92 runs short at 194 all out.

Here, Boycott again faced the West Indies' feared pace attack, but succeeded in scoring centuries off the likes of Holding, Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner, despite having passed the age of 40 the previous year.

[148][149] Though in 1987 Boycott would claim a 1966 delivery by Gary Sobers to be the best he ever faced in cricket,[150] he noted of Holding's over that "for the first time in my life I can look at a scoreboard with a duck against my name and not feel a profound sense of failure.

Having watched Holding's over several times on video, and worked in the nets on his game, Boycott came out and made 38 in the first innings and then hit his twentieth Test century.

[159] Later in 1982 he was instrumental in organising, in defiance of a United Nations and a TCCB ban, a rebel tour of apartheid South Africa by 13 current and former England Test cricketers, who were almost all nearing the end of their careers.

[163] Cricket commentator and statistician Simon Hughes states that Boycott is fastidious in the commentary box, always immaculately dressed, and never socialises with the other staff.

"[165] Boycott laid claim to coining the phrase "corridor of uncertainty" as a reference to the area outside the off stump where a batsman is unsure whether he should leave or hit the ball, and was noted for using a key to measure the hardness of the pitch, until this was outlawed.

[4] He is known for stock phrases including (of dropped catches) that his mother or grandmother "could have caught that in her pinny" or (of an easy batting miss) that they could have "hit the ball with a stick of rhubarb."

He stated that he believed the selectors to be living in "past times", and that he wished to encourage a growth in the number of players from Pakistan, the West Indies and India.

[203][204] Boycott resumed writing for The Daily Telegraph and commentating on Channel Four for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Championship Final and the following summer's cricket.

[14][209] He remained an active member of the cricket community, voicing his support in late April 2009 for Pakistan player Saeed Ajmal, and calling for the legalisation of the doosra spin-bowling delivery.

ESPNcricinfo reviewed the piece in October, commenting on Boycott's more amiable personality since his recovery from cancer: "we have a much more rounded and nuanced book, full of self-awareness and a willingness, even eagerness, to acknowledge errors, failings and regrets...

[244] He topped the national averages for six seasons, the highest of any post-World War II player,[245] and is tied for fourth in the list of centuries for England behind only Joe Root, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen.